Carcinoma of the Bellini duct with an unusual clinical picture

A 37-year-old male patient presented with a Bellini duct carcinoma, at first as a metastatic illness of the paraaortal lymph nodes, without significant radiologic signs of a kidney tumor. Cytological diagnostics did not recognize this tumor. Macroscopically and microscopically the tumor fulfilled the major and minor criteria of Sringly et al., but immunohistochemical findings did not show cell affinity for UEA-1, which, according to the literature, typically confirms its origin from Bellini ducts. This rare neoplasm, primarily found in a younger population, still represents a diagnostic and therapeutical challenge as a result of its aggressive clinical course. In our patient, as in the majority of cases presented in the literature, tumor prognosis was very poor, in spite of aggressive surgical, radium and immune therapy.