[Infratemporal metastasis from a renal cell carcinoma]

Kidney cancer, particularly clear cell carcinoma, has an unpredictable clinical course with a variable metastatic potential in time. Some metastatic sites are atypical, such as head and neck (6% of cases). We report an extremely rare case of clear cell renal carcinoma with a metastasis in the infratemporal fossa.

A 67 year old male patient, operated in 2007 for a Fuhrman grade I clear cell carcinoma of the left kidney (radical nephrectomy), consulted for swelling of the left temporo-zygomatic region. A local biopsy allowed diagnosing clear cell renal carcinoma metastases. The patient was inoperable and was treated by antiangiogenic drugs.

The recommended treatment is surgical exeresis when the metastasis is single and can be resected. Antiangiogenic therapy is an alternative in other cases.