title: Lower gastrointestinal bleeding as the initial presenting symptom of renal cell carcinoma.
abstract: Renal cell carcinoma is known as one of the "great mimics encountered in clinical medicine," along with syphilis and tuberculosis. It can present clinically as a wide range of symptoms, with a classic triad described as hematuria, pain, and a palpable abdominal mass. However, this triad is present only in <20% of patients with renal cell carcinoma. Gastrointestinal bleeding has been described in renal cell carcinoma, although mainly secondary to metastasis in the upper gastrointestinal tract, with few cases due to local invasion. Lower gastrointestinal bleeding as a presenting symptom of an invasive primary renal cell carcinoma has been described in only one patient in the literature. Our patient is the first in whom a colonoscopic biopsy was used as a successful diagnostic modality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Western Reserve Care System, A Division of Forum Health, Youngstown, Ohio 44501, USA.
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Perez
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Musselman
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003113:Colonoscopy; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness