Triple primary cancers involving kidney, urinary bladder, and liver in a dye worker

A case of triple primary cancers (renal cell carcinoma of the kidney, transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, and hepatocellular carcinoma of the liver) was reported at autopsy. A 53-year-old man, who had a history of exposure to benzidine, underwent nephrectomy for a left renal cell carcinoma and 10 years later, transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TUR-Bt) for a transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. At the age of 65, he was diagnosed as having multiple hepatic tumors. Histological examination of biopsy specimens showed these lesions to be undifferentiated carcinomas. Immunohistological examination of both biopsy and autopsy specimens revealed that multiple hepatic tumors were hepatocellular carcinomas, not metastatic tumors from kidney or urinary bladder: tumor cells of hepatic tumors were positive for alpha-fetoprotein, although renal cell carcinomas and transitional cell carcinomas of urinary bladder were positive for Ber-EP4 and keratin, respectively. These findings suggest not only that immunohistological examination is helpful for the diagnosis of multiple primary cancers but also that benzidine may be hepatocarcinogenic in addition to those cancers that are known to be associated with benzidine exposure, i.e., renal cell carcinomas and transitional cell carcinomas in urinary bladder.