Abstract.A 76-year-old female in whom a renal cell carcinoma (RCC) lesion was resected 19 years previously presented to our hospital with cognitive dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography revealed nodules in the brain, lung, adrenal gland and a pelvic osteolytic lesion. To identify the primary cancer site, the present study performed endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of the left adrenal lesion. Consequently, the pathological findings of the tissue obtained by EUS-FNA were similar to those of the previous nephrectomy specimen, revealing that the adrenal lesion was the recurrence of RCC. The majority of the metastatic lesions in the patient were reduced in size by the multiple kinase inhibitor, pazopanib. Contralateral adrenal metastasis of RCC is rare and the use of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of adrenal lesions remains to be elucidated. This is a rare case of adrenal lesion, diagnosed by EUS-FNA. Therefore, EUS-FNA is considered to be a useful diagnostic modality of adrenal metastases from unidentified primary tumor types.
IntroductionRenal cell carcinoma (RCC), which accounts for ~5% of all epithelial cancer types, is the ninth most common cancer worldwide. Around 20% of patients experience recurrence or develop metastatic RCC following nephrectomy (1). Although late recurrence of RCC following curative initial surgery is not a rare event, a previous study demonstrated that contralateral adrenal metastasis of RCC is rare (2). Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is a relatively novel modality for obtaining samples from deep-seated lesions. In a previous study, adrenal gland samples obtained by EUS-FNA biopsy were adequate for determining a pathological diagnosis (3). The present study reported a rare case of contralateral adrenal metastasis of RCC, which was diagnosed by EUS-FNA.
Case reportA 76-year-old female with a complaint of cognitive dysfunction visited the Department of Neurosurgery, Kanazawa University Hospital (Ishikawa, Japan). The patient was previously diagnosed with RCC of the right kidney in the Department of Urology, Public Central Hospital of Matto (Ishikawa, Japan) 19 years previously. The right kidney was removed and the patient received no adjuvant therapy at that time. A physical examination revealed no findings other than disorientation, and laboratory data, including tumor markers, revealed no notable findings. Brain gadolinium contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging uncovered several nodules (Fig. 1), whereas chest and abdominal computed tomography (CT) identified a single nodule in the right lower lobe of the lungs, a mass in the left adrenal gland and an osteolytic lesion in the left pelvis (Data not shown). On the basis of these findings, the patient was diagnosed with a metastatic brain tumor. Following diagnosis, the patient received stereotactic radiosurgery with gamma knife therapy for the brain lesions. To identify the primary lesion, the present case study attempted to obtain histological confirmation...