Abstract
An autopsy case of a 69-year-old man with squamous cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis, which may have developed due to Thorotrast in the kidney, was presented. The left non-functioning kidney with hydronephrosis was removed. It was macroscopically considered to be leukoplakia, but cytological examination of the fluid, accumulated in the renal pelvis, indicated the possibility of transitional cell carcinoma accompanied with squamous cell metaplasia, because two types of malignant cells were found. Histologically, squamous cell carcinoma and transitional cell carcinoma were found. The cancer cells were also detected in urine from the right renal pelvis and carcinoma of the renal pelvis was suspected. The patient died about 3 months after the left kidney had been removed.
Carcinoma metastases were found in the right kidney, the lungs, the liver, the spleen, and many of the metastases were histologically shown to be squamous cell carcinoma. No carcinoma was found in the right renal pelvis. Therefore, the cancer cells detected in the urine of the right pelvis may have derived from metastastic tumor nodules in the kidney. Many phagocytes filled with Thorotrast granules were found in the submucosal tissues of both kidneys.
That the cytological examination of urine is helpful for diagnosis, especially early diagnosis, of squamous cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis is discussed.
