Chromophil renal cell carcinoma

Overview

A type of kidney tumor where the cells that make up the tumor take up dye readily during pathology testing. For more than two decades, chromophil (or papillary) renal cell carcinoma has been recognized as a possible distinct clinicopathologic subtype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, the histologic criteria for its diagnosis and the clinical outcome are still debated.

Symptoms

  • Asymptomatic in early stages
  • Abdominal mass
  • Blood in urine
  • Fever
  • Weight loss
  • Back pain

Causes

A hereditary form, called Hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma, of autosomal dominant transmission, has been recently recognized; it predisposes to develop multiple, bilateral renal tumours. The papillary renal cell carcinomas represent about 10% of all renal cell tumours; there is a clear excess of male patients (male to female ratio: 5 to 1).

  • papillary renal tumours are composed of at least 50% of papillary structures, formed by connective tissue stalks covered by small or medium size cuboid cells with eosinophilic or basophilic granular cytoplasm
  • renal cortical adenomas are frequently associated with papillary renal cell carcinomas in the same kidney, suggesting the possibility of transformation from adenoma to carcinoma

Diagnosis

This medical information about signs and symptoms for Chromophil renal cell carcinoma has been gathered from various sources, may not be fully accurate, and may not be the full list of Chromophil renal cell carcinoma signs or Chromophil renal cell carcinoma symptoms. Furthermore, signs and symptoms of Chromophil renal cell carcinoma may vary on an individual basis for each patient. Only your doctor can provide adequate diagnosis of any signs or symptoms and whether they are indeed Chromophil renal cell carcinoma symptoms.

Prognosis

The chromophil RCC is a malignant tumor, with a tendency to present at a lower stage, but with a distinct potential for progression and aggressive behavior; stratification of these tumors according to cell type, amount of foam cells, presence or absence of vascular invasion, nuclear grade, and pathologic stage provides useful prognostic information; the better 5-year survival rate of chromophil RCC (overall and for stage I tumors) compared with that of conventional RCC suggests that it is a tumor with lower malignant potential.

Treatment

The list of treatments mentioned in various sources for Chromophil renal cell carcinoma includes the following list.

  • Surgery - only curative option is complete resection of the tumor
  • Radiotherapy - For palliative management of inoperable symptomatic tumors and metastatic disease
  • Multikinase inhibitors - Used to improve survival in advanced disease - Sorafenib, Sunitinib, Temsirolimus, Everolimus
  • Biological therapies - Used to improve survival in advanced disease - Interleukin 2, Interferon