[Renal cell carcinoma incidentally found by computed tomography: report of 4 cases]

A clinical study was made on 26 patients with renal cell carcinoma, who visited our department between October, 1979 and April, 1984. There were 21 men and 5 women. As the major initial symptoms, hematuria and flank pain were observed in 14 cases (53.8%), followed by symptoms of metastatic tumors in 7 cases (26.9%). Four cases of malignant renal masses which showed no abnormality on the excretory urogram were diagnosed by chance at the time of examination of the abdominal computed tomography (CT). CT was especially useful in diagnosing the renal cell carcinomas.