Breast metastasis from renal cell carcinoma: rare initial presentation of disease recurrence after 5 years

Metastasis to the breast from extra-mammary tumors is rare with only a few sporadic cases reported. We present a 58-year-old female patient diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. Five years ago she had a radical nephrectomy and was free of disease, then discovered solitary breast mass following self-examination. The patient presented to the breast clinic for evaluation whereupon the breast mass was identified on physical and radiological examinations. Fine needle aspiration was diagnostic of metastatic renal cell carcinoma and subsequent imaging studies demonstrated multiple pulmonary deposits and recurrent renal mass in the tumor bed of the diseased site. In a multidisciplinary clinic, the patient was elected for excision biopsy followed by systemic tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy. Six months later she had brain metastasis and received whole brain irradiation followed by palliative therapy. We are presenting this rare case with the aim of increasing awareness of breast secondaries.