Late pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma. Diagnostic and therapeutical observations

The incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has progressively increased in the last years. Local and metastatic diffusion mandates an aggressive surgical treatment with radical nephrectomy. The high incidence of metastases represents a challenging clinical problem, especially with regard to late metastases, which may appear many years after nephrectomy. A rare case of pancreatic metastasis from RCC occurring 8 years after nephrectomy is presented. Pancreatic metastases of RCC are rare and should be suspected in any patient with previous renal surgery for cancer, presenting with abdominal pain or gastrointestinal bleeding and diagnosis of a pancreatic mass. Surgical resection could guarantee a satisfactory long-term survival.