Isolated cervical lymph node metastasis of renal pelvic squamous cell carcinoma: A case report

A 78-year-old man was admitted to the Department of Otolaryngology of our hospital with bilateral lymph node swelling of the neck. Pathological examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). He underwent computed tomography (CT) of the neck and chest, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and laryngoscopy to locate a primary tumour, however, no obvious tumour was detected. Eight months later, a renal tumour without regional lymph node swelling was found when a chest CT scan was performed again. We then performed a right nephroureterectomy and regional lymphadenectomy. Pathological examination revealed SCC of the renal pelvis, pT3, grade 3, without regional lymph node metastasis. This pathological finding for the kidney was virtually the same as that for cervical lymph nodes. Therefore, it was thought that his cervical tumours had metastasized from the renal pelvic SCC. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of renal pelvic carcinoma without regional lymph node metastasis having only cervical lymph node metastasis. This is the first case of isolated cervical lymph node metastasis from renal pelvic SCC.