Renal ectopia as cause of diagnostic difficulties in 43-year-old man hospitalized due to suspicion of colorectal cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer and its diagnosis remain a significant clinical problem. Renal ectopia is one of the major developmental anomalies of the urinary system, although it is relatively rare in the general population. It is most often asymptomatic and is revealed by chance. This study presents a case report of a 43-year-old man, in whom colorectal cancer was suspected due to the suggestive clinical picture (abdominal pain, constipation, weight loss, a family history of colorectal cancer) and the suspicion of a proliferative process described in an outpatient ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity. As a result of the performed diagnostics, no proliferative process was found in the patient, and the previously diagnosed lesion that raised the suspicion of cancer turned out to be the right kidney located in the pelvis. The presented case report shows that renal ectopia may cause diagnostic difficulties, among others in patients diagnosed with a neoplastic process.

Keywords

• renal ectopia
• abdominal pain
• constipation
• weight loss
• colorectal cancer