Metastatic carcinoma of the gallbladder after a renal cell carcinoma

Abstract

The gallbladder is rarely the site of distant metastases and in most cases malignant melanoma is the primary tumor. We report a case of a 64-year-old man with a gallbladder metastasis secondary to a renal cell carcinoma. Renal cell carcinoma has a tendency toward metastatic disease, the most notable features of this tumor being its unusual pattern of metastatic disease. Pre-operative imaging studies are often futile in the differentiation between primary and secondary tumors of the gallbladder. Since primary tumors of the gallbladder often coexist with gallstones, a polypoid lesion in an acalculous gallbladder is more consistent with metastasis than a primary tumour. If feasible, surgical resection of the gallbladder is mandatory because it could guarantee better chances of survival for patients with metastatic renal carcinoma.