title: Renal medullary carcinoma. Case report and review of the literature.
abstract: Young patients with sickle cell trait or disease present a higher risk for renal medullary carcinoma, an aggressive renal tumor, with dismal prognosis, with a median survival of 4 months from the time of diagnosis. We report a 26-year-old patient with a 2-month history of bone pain at the right iliac crest, loss of weight, recurrent macroscopic hematuria and abdominal mass. Imaging studies demonstrated a 10-cm mass in the right kidney. Pathological evaluation revealed a medullary carcinoma and the patient died after 4 months, despite adjuvant treatment. Whenever a patient with sickle cell trait or disease presents with hematuria and/or flank pain, the possibility of a renal medullary carcinoma should always be kept in mind, with thorough investigation and expeditious treatment.
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil. victorleitao@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Victor Augusto
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Leitão
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Ubirajara
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Fernandes
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Denardi
authors.forename: Athanase
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Billis
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rodrigues Netto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male