급성요통환자에서 척추 추간판염으로 오인한 상부요로의 요로상피암 - 증례보고

Urothelial Carcinoma of the upper urinary tract misdiagnosed as spondylodiscitis in a patient with acute low back pain - a case report

A 66-year-old male patient was referred to our clinic due to the sudden onset of low back pain one month ago, which did not improve despite repeated nerve blocks. A simple x-ray was nonspecific, so a trigger point injection was performed. Lumbar intervertebral spondylitis was suspected due to unimproved symptoms despite nerve blocks and trigger point injection, with elevated inflammatory factors in blood tests for additional nerve block. A lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging was performed, nevertheless, no symptomatic spine findings were observed. However, incidentally revealed a renal abnormality and a diagnosis of transitional renal cell carcinoma. We report a case of transitional renal cell carcinoma, has nonspecific symptoms and is often detected incidentally by urinalysis or imaging study, resulting in uncontrolled symptoms, unnecessary treatment, and delay in early diagnosis and treatment of the cancer.