The Hot Pleura: Isolated Pleural Metastases From Renal Cell Carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common solid renal malignancy that metastasizes typically to lungs, bones, liver, adrenals, and lymph nodes. Isolated pleural metastases of RCC are extremely rare, with only few cases reported in the literature. We report one such case of a 60-year-old woman, a known case of RCC of the left kidney who underwent nephrectomy, and on follow-up, PET/CT scan revealed diffuse thick nodular hypermetabolic left pleural thickening, which was later biopsied and turned out to be pleural metastases from RCC. No other site of metastases was found.