[A case of metastatic pulmonary cancer from renal cell carcinoma masquerading as pulmonary vein varix].
A 66-year-old woman underwent nephrectomy to treat renal cell carcinoma 5 years previously. Enhanced CT to locate the tumor revealed a lesion very close to the right upper pulmonary vein. Six months later, the nodule grew to 14mm in maximum dimension and it seemed to be a varix of the right upper pulmonary vein on 3D-CT. However, pulmonary artery angiography (PAG) denied this possibility. PET-CT revealed the nodule to be positive for FDG uptake (maxSUV 2.7 in the early phase and 2.2 in the late phase), suggesting that it contained solid tissue with malignant characteristics. Eventually, right upper lobectomy was performed. The nodule was a metastatic renal cell carcinoma with extremely abundant vascular components. This conspicuous feature of the tumor appeared to mimic a pulmonary vein varix on enhanced CT scan and 3D angiogram.
Mizuno
Kotaro
K
Department of Chest Surgery, JA Mie Koseiren Suzuka General Hospital.
Endo
Katsuhiko
K
Fukai
Ichiro
I
D000368:Aged; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000556:secondary*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D011667:Pulmonary Veins; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014648:Varicose Veins / Q000175:diagnosis*