Axillary skin metastasis of renal cell carcinoma—Case report

INTRODUCTION: Metastatic diseases are seen in approximately 25% of all cases with renal cell carcinoma and sometimes they can appear in unusual sites. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a 35-year old patient with a painful left axillary mass which causes the functional impairment of the left arm. The axillary mass appeared 2 years after the nephrectomy performed for a left renal cell carcinoma. Numerous metastases have been identified through CT scans during the postoperative evolution of the disease for which the patient underwent adjuvant therapy with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors. DISCUSSIONS: Particular to our case is not just the rare metastatic site but also the fact that the tumor appeared despite the adjuvant therapy with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, the prognosis of metastatic RCC with skin metastasis is in most cases unfavorable. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that our case could add more information to subsequent measures, complete the frame of rare oncologic cases and consolidate the data published on the topic so far.