Background: Renal cell carcinoma is well known for its frequency to metastasise, particularly to lungs, liver, bones and brain. Metastasis to the skin is much less common. Presentation as a result of the skin lesion is even more unusual, with only 14 previously reported cases in the English literature. The majority of these cases have been reported in patients with recurrent disease or with other metastases.

We report the incidental finding at surgery for retroperitoneal fibrosis of a carcinoid tumour causing complete right ureteric obstruction. Retroperitoneal fibrosis is an uncommon inflammatory disease that leads to extensive fibrosis throughout the retroperitoneum. It can occur at any age, peak incidence being in patients between 40 and 60 years of age. Carcinoid tumours arise from enterochromaffin or amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation cells that occur in gastrointestinal tract. Carcinoid tumours are an uncommon clinical entity and incidence varies with gender and age. No association between retroperitoneal fibrosis and carcinoid tumour has been previously reported in the English literature, although one case has been reported in a French journal.

We describe a 58-year-old lady who presented initially to her general practitioner with a palpable warty urethral nodule. She was subsequently referred to the urology department for further investigations. She underwent flexible cystoscopy and imaging, followed by rigid cystoscopy and excision of the nodule. Histological analysis was consistent with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). CT imaging confirmed the presence of an invading metastatic left renal cell carcinoma with bilateral metastatic deposits to the lungs and adrenal glands. The patient was enlisted on the Panther Trial and received a course of Pazopanib before undergoing radical nephrectomy. Two years later she is still alive with metastases remaining reduced in size and numbers. During this study we have performed a literature review of similar cases with this unusual presentation of RCC.

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