Recurrence of renal cell carcinoma diagnosed using contralateral adrenal biopsy with endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration

A 76-year-old female in whom a renal cell carcinoma (RCC) lesion was resected 19 years previously presented to our hospital with cognitive dysfunction. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography revealed nodules in the brain, lung, adrenal gland and a pelvic osteolytic lesion. To identify the primary cancer site, the present study performed endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of the left adrenal lesion. Consequently, the pathological findings of the tissue obtained by EUS-FNA were similar to those of the previous nephrectomy specimen, revealing that the adrenal lesion was the recurrence of RCC. The majority of the metastatic lesions in the patient were reduced in size by the multiple kinase inhibitor, pazopanib. Contralateral adrenal metastasis of RCC is rare and the use of EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of adrenal lesions remains to be elucidated. This is a rare case of adrenal lesion, diagnosed by EUS-FNA. Therefore, EUS-FNA is considered to be a useful diagnostic modality of adrenal metastases from unidentified primary tumor types.