Fine-needle aspiration cytology of metastatic clear-cell renal carcinoma presenting as a solitary mass in the head of the pancreas.

In nearly 25% of patients with primary renal-cell carcinoma, metastasis is not uncommon and usually does not give rise to difficulties in diagnosis. However, its presentation as a mass in the head of the pancreas following an elapse of several years after the initial diagnosis of renal carcinoma is not only uncommon but may be confused clinicoradiologically with a primary pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The case presented here illustrates such an example with an emphasis on the usefulness of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis.