Metastatic Renal Cell Cancer Instigating Paraplegia in a Male Patient

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) constitutes about 2% of all adult malignancies and is the most common malignant renal neoplasm with bony metastases occurring in up to 50% of patients with RCC. In this case, we report a 42-year-old male who presented with chronic back pain and had a sudden episode of paraplegia. The patient was initially referred to the orthopedics service. He had a lumbar X-ray done followed by a CT of the spine that showed a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra with incidental finding of a right renal mass suspicious of RCC. Upon further investigations, the patient was found to have a large heterogeneous renal cortical mass with multiple cystic changes and necrosis invading the Gerota’s fascia as well as a tumor thrombus extending into the right renal vein and inferior vena cava. Although it has been well established that RCC metastasizes to bones and it is not uncommon for vertebral column involvement, sudden paraplegia and incontinence resulting from lumbar fracture due to metastatic RCC has not been widely published. Conclusively, RCC is a common malignancy in which a significant number of patients have metastatic disease upon presentation and this can lead to initial confusion and delay in diagnosis, hence it should be part of the differential diagnosis when investigating chronic bony pain and pathological fractures.