Bilateral nephrolithiasis and upper tract transitional cell carcinoma in horseshoe kidney

Abstract

Nephroureterectomy is currently the criterion-standard treatment for high-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Current guidelines and expert opinions propose some exceptions to this approach based on patient characteristics, disease status, and function of the contralateral kidney. We present a rare case of a patient with horseshoe kidney, bilateral large nephrolithiasis, high-grade UTUC in one moiety, and relative parenchymal thinning of the contralateral side. The patient was treated with a percutaneous, minimally invasive, nephron sparing approach. The patient also had intracollecting system instillations of gemcitabine and docetaxel. Minimally invasive percutaneous resection of high-grade UTUC is a safe procedure in select cases. Current guidelines may not apply to all patients; unique scenarios with UTUC may require personalized decision-making and treatment at specialized centers.

Keywords

Upper tract urothelial cancer / Percutaneous resection / Horseshoe kidney / Nephrolithiasis

Acknowledgments

None.

Statement of ethics

According to local institutional regulations, ethical approval for single patient case report is not required. The patient provided informed consent for the participation and publication of this study. All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors.

Funding source

None.

Author contributions

JMG: Writing of the manuscript;

EJ. Macdonald: Writing of the manuscript;

AR: Writing of the manuscript;

DH: Writing of the manuscript;

AS: Writing of the manuscript;

ZO: Treating physician, writing of the manuscript;

TA: Treating physician, writing of the manuscript.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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