Cutaneous metastasis of renal cell carcinoma through percutaneous fine needle aspiration biopsy: case report

A 39-year-old man, who had undergone left nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma of clear cell type, was noted to have a solitary nodular shadow in the right lung on chest X-ray. Percutaneous needle biopsy of the lung was performed via the right anterior chest wall and the histologic findings showed metastasis from renal carcinoma. Six month later, the patient presented with a cutaneous nodule at the site of puncture of the lung needle biopsy. Histological examination of a biopsy of the skin tumor revealed features of metastatic renal cell carcinoma of clear cell type. Surgical excision of the cutaneous nodule was performed, followed by radiotherapy at the site of the skin lesion on the chest wall. After treatment, the patient remains disease free after one year of follow-up. This case represents an unusual clinical presentation of metastatic renal cell carcinoma that appears to have been translocated to the skin by the needle biopsy.