Renal cell carcinoma metastatic to the ovary: A case report

A 47-year-old woman underwent left radical nephrectomy in 1995, and pathological diagnosis showed a primary renal cell carcinoma with clear cell subtype. Four years later on her routine checkup, abdominal computerized tomography revealed a 9-cm of predominantly solid and partially cystic tumor in the pelvic cavity. The patient was referred to Gynecologic Department and a total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was subsequently performed under the diagnosis of a left ovarian tumor. A cut surface of the solid component of the tumor was macroscopically yellowish. Pathological examination revealed alveolar growth of tumor cells with abundant clear cytoplasm including fat components. In some areas of the tumor, there were patterns of tubular structures which were cystically dilated. The typical findings usually found in the primary ovarian clear cell adenocarcinoma were absent in the tumor, and the final pathological diagnosis was left ovarian metastasis of renal cell carcinoma. The ovarian metastasis of renal cell carcinoma is quite rare and to our knowledge only eleven cases were reported in the past 20 years. We report on a case and review the literature.