[Renal cell carcinoma with late skin metastasis: a case report]

An 81-year-old man complaining of appetite loss visited our clinic. Four subcutaneous nodules were visible. One was seen on the right chest, 1 on the left shoulder and 2 on the abdomen. They were soft, dome-like masses and 20 to 30 mm in diameter. Computed tomography revealed multiple metastatic lesions in the brain, lungs, abdomen and skin. The patient had undergone radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma 15 years earlier. The histology of the biopsy specimens obtained at nephrectomy was grade 1 and that of the subcutaneous nodules was grade 2. The patient died 49 days after admission, in spite of interferon-alpha therapy. To our knowledge, this is the 63rd case of skin metastasis of renal cell carcinoma in Japanese literature.