Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is known to have late recurrence even among patients with early stage disease and surgical resection.Typical sites for metastasis include lungs, bone, liver, and brain, whereas colonic metastasis is rare. A 54 year old man with past medical history significant for coronary artery disease, type II diabetes, hypertension, and stage 1 RCC status post right nephrectomy 3.5 years prior, presented with hematochezia, anemia, and chest pain. Initially, patient was admitted to an outside hospital with anemia, renal failure, and chest pain. He was diagnosed with non-ST elevation myocardial infarction and underwent a left heart catheterization significant for multi-vessel coronary artery disease. After starting dual anti-platelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel, he had frank hematochezia and worsening dyspnea, which prompted him to present to our emergency room. The vital signs were within normal limits and physical exam was significant for mild diffuse abdominal tenderness on palpation without rebound tenderness. Laboratory studies revealed hemoglobin of 9.2, mean corpuscular volume of 70.6 μm3, creatinine of 5.23mg/dL, iron 20mcg/dL, iron binding capacity 280mcg/dL, and ferritin 146ng/mL. Stool occult blood testing was negative. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a soft tissue mass in the right nephrectomy surgical bed measuring 3.2 cm x 3.7 cm, innumerable lesions within the left kidney, left adrenal mass, multiple pulmonary nodules and lymphadenopathy consistent with metastatic disease. The colon was noted to be unremarkable. The patient's renal function improved with intravenous fluid hydration. No biopsy was performed given his dual antiplatelet therapy and he was discharged with referral for follow-up with oncology and gastroenterology. He was re-admitted 1 month later with chest pain and dyspnea where cardiac work up was negative for ischemia. A push enteroscopy and colonoscopy were performed for ongoing intermittent hematochezia. The enteroscope was advanced to approximately 40cm past the ligament of treitz and examination was entirely normal. The colonoscopy revealed an ulcerated 1.5cm pedunculated mass lesion 35cm from the anal verge (image 1) with biopsies consistent with clear cell RCC (image 2). Intestinal metastasis from renal cancers often present as hemorrhage, bowel intussusception, bowel obstruction due to luminal occlusion, or rarely as perforation. In our case, the patient presented with hematochezia secondary to RCC with metastatic spread to colon in the setting of recent initiation of antiplatelet therapy. Our case illustrates that although metastatic RCC is common, colonic metastases are rare and careful history and surveillance for recurrence should be performed for RCC patients presenting with abdominal symptoms.Figure 1Figure 2
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