[RENAL CELL CARCINOMA PRESENTING WITH HIGH-OUTPUT HEART FAILURE DUE TO ARTERIOVENOUS FISTULA]

A 64-year-old woman who has a history of congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation was admitted to our hospital with the exacerbation of exertional dyspnea and urinary retention due to severe gross hematuria. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed a tumor involving the inferior and middle poles of the right kidney with no nodal involvement, or distant metastases, but that was accompanied by markedly proliferated blood vessels around the inferior vena cava and right renal vein, seemingly a result of an arteriovenous fistula. After embolization of the right renal artery, right radical nephrectomy was performed via a thoracoabdominal incision. The histological diagnosis of the tumor was clear cell renal cell carcinoma, G2 > G3, Fuhrman nuclear grade3, pT2a. Although the presence of an arteriovenous fistula was not confirmed histologically, the severely condensed proliferation of the blood vessels in the renal hilum is consistent with the diagnosis of an arteriovenous fistula accompanying renal cell carcinoma. Immediately after the operation, her symptoms of congestive heart failure, including dyspnea, subsided and her serum BNP levels and CTR value returned to normal levels. Two years after the operation, she shows no signs of recurrence or metastasis. To the best of our knowledge, there have been 25 cases of arteriovenous fistulas accompanied by renal cell carcinoma but only a few in which the symptoms were those of severe congestive heart failure. Clinicians should be aware that renal cell carcinoima could be a cause of heart failure.