CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Genitourinary Oncology
This article is part of the Research TopicKidney Cancer Awareness Month 2025: Current Progress and Future Prospects on Kidney Cancer Prevention, Diagnosis and TreatmentView all 18 articles
Case report: A rare case of unilateral renal clear cell carcinoma with synchronous contralateral ureteral metastasis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Urology, Department of Urology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, China
- 2Department of Urology, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
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Background: Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) rarely metastasizes to the contralateral ureter. Fewer than 10 such cases have been reported, mostly involving clear cell RCC (CCRCC) with associated hydronephrosis and renal insufficiency. The mechanism may involve retrograde tumor cell implantation via the urine. This report presents a rare case of unilateral CCRCC with synchronous contralateral ureteral metastasis and its treatment. Case presentation: A 77-year-old male patient presented with hematuria and right lumbar pain. Computed tomography (CT) imaging revealed a left renal mass and a small right ureteral mass with hydronephrosis and suggested malignancy in both masses. Owing to bilateral involvement and poor general condition, a staged approach was adopted. Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy of the left renal mass yielded clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). Subsequent laparoscopic nephroureterectomy for the right ureteral tumor confirmed CCRCC metastasis. The patient recovered well and showed no metastasis at the fourteen-month follow-up. Conclusion: This type of metastasis deserves increased attention. However, there is currently no standardized treatment protocol for this rare condition. Our treatment involved firstly management of the renal tumor, followed by the contralateral ureteral tumor so that optimal safety and minimum oncological progression can be achieved.
Keywords: Carcinoma, Renal Cell, Ureteral Neoplasms, metastasis, nephroureterectomy, Nephrectomy, Biopsy
Received: 23 Apr 2025; Accepted: 18 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qian, Lu, Zhang, Xie, Shen and Deng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Junpeng Deng
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