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Papillary renal cell carcinoma (pathology)

Case contributed by Andrew Ryan
Diagnosis certain

Presentation

Left renal tumor.

Patient Data

Age: 40 years
Gender: Male

This is a papillary renal cell carcinoma removed by partial nephrectomy.

Macroscopic - Circumscribed, cortical-based, tan tumor with a cuff of renal parenchyma.

Microscopic (low power) - circumscribed lesion.

Microscopic (medium power) - well-defined interface of tumor and adjacent renal cortex (bottom left).

Microscopic (high power) - well-formed branching papillae with lining cells showing abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and small uniform nuclei.

Case Discussion

The features are consistent with a papillary renal cell carcinoma.

Papillary RCC is further subclassified on morphological and prognostic grounds into type I and type II; this is a good example of a type II papillary RCC with cores lined by larger lining cells with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, arranged in a 'pseudostratified' pattern (in areas the cells appear to be several layers thick, but are infact all still attached to the basement membrane).

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