A painful cutaneous nodule as the presentation of metastatic transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis

Abstract We report a 43-year-old man with HIV who presented with a painful, vascular-appearing nodule as the initial manifestation of metastasis of a prior transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis. The transitional cell carcinoma had been treated by nephroureterectomy 4 years before the appearance of the nodule. Histopathologic comparison of the nodule with the prior transitional cell carcinoma and immunoperoxidase staining with monoclonal antibodies confirmed that the nodule was a metastasis of the original transitional cell carcinoma. In general, metastasis of transitional cell carcinoma to the skin is quite uncommon. This case is the first reported episode of transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis metastasizing to the skin in the form of a vascular-appearing nodule. The significance of this unusual metastasis occurring in a person with HIV is unknown. (J Am Acad Dermatol 2000;42:867-8.)