Esophageal Cancer Metastasis to the Kidney

ABSTRACT

We report a case of 54-year-old man who presented with a right renal tumor secondary to an esophageal cancer, which was detected during a periodic follow-up computerized tomographic examination. In December 2000, the patient underwent a transhiatal esophagectomy with a cervical esophagogastrostomy and a histological examination showed an infiltrative squamous carcinoma (T3N1M0, stage III). The patient was treated with 6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-FU (500 mg/m2) and cisplatinum (40 mg/m2). Subsequently, a follow-up study revealed no evidence of recurrence until December 2001. In June 2002, he attended a follow-up examination and complained of general weakness and a 3 kg weight loss over a month. CT scan detected a hypodense space occupying lesion in the inferior pole of the right kidney and enlarged aortocaval lymph nodes below the right renal vein. Intravenous pyelography showed a phantom calyx in the inferior pole after a contrast infusion. The cystoscopic examination was negative. He underwent a right nephrectomy and a periaortic lymph node dissection under the impression of a metachronous transitional cell carcinoma. However, a histological examination revealed that the tumor was a metastatic squamous carcinoma with lymph nodes involvement from the previous esophageal squamous carcinoma.