Face to Face With Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Case Report

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is responsible for most cases of primary kidney neoplasms, many of which are asymptomatic until an advanced stage. According to the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA), in primary health care, family doctors (FD) hold a privileged position in the early diagnosis of the disease's natural history. This case presents a 61-year-old man who sought consultation with his FD for swelling in the right frontal region with a two-week history. He denied trauma or accompanying symptoms. Clinically, he presented with a right frontal swelling, 3 cm in diameter, tender to palpation, and without inflammatory signs. Given these findings, the FD requested an ultrasound of the soft tissues and later a contrast-enhanced cranial-encephalic computed tomography (CT) scan, which showed the presence of a solid nodule located in the right frontal region, centered on the bone calotte and highly vascularized, with the most likely diagnostic hypothesis being a tumor lesion, primary versus secondary. Subsequently, the patient underwent a contrast-enhanced chest-abdomen-pelvis CT, which revealed the presence of a neoplasm in the right kidney, consistent with RCC. This clinical case report aims to highlight the crucial role of the FD in detecting pathologies such as RCC, which can present in an undifferentiated manner at an early stage of its natural history, in addition to the management of preventive care and follow-up of individualized comorbidities.