Renal Cell Carcinoma in Pregnancy: A Case Report of a Rare Diagnosis

Renal cell carcinoma is rarely reported in pregnant women. Diagnosis is often delayed because symptoms are similar to physiological changes and disorders of pregnancy. Each case should be discussed on an individual basis because there are no guidelines described for the clinical management of this disease during pregnancy. We report the case of a 37-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department at six weeks of gestation with left-sided flank pain and pollakiuria. Renal ultrasound revealed a 6 cm solid mass in the left kidney, suggestive of a renal neoplasm. Magnetic resonance imaging showed no signs of local or distant metastasis. The patient was treated with laparoscopic radical nephrectomy at 14 weeks of gestation without any complications. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of a renal clear-cell carcinoma. Progression of pregnancy was normal, and the patient gave birth to a healthy child at term. Follow-up examinations after four years demonstrated no cancer recurrence.