A Case of Metastatic Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma Masked as Suspected Hepatic Abscesses.

Background: Characterizing multiple hepatic lesions on cross-sectional imaging, particularly differentiating abscesses from metastatic lesions, can be challenging.

Case presentation: A male aged 53 years with a history of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma presented with fevers and abdominal pain and was found to have multiple hepatic lesions concerning for hepatic abscesses. The lesions initially evaded diagnosis on imaging, laboratory tests, and biopsy, but ultimately were determined to be a rare case of metastatic chromophobe renal cell carcinoma of the liver.

Conclusions: The finding of multiple new liver lesions on imaging during a febrile illness is concerning for hepatic abscess or malignancy, which can be difficult to diagnose with imaging alone. Differentiation between infectious and neoplastic etiologies may require additional imaging and/or tissue sampling.