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Case Reports
. 2010 Jan;27(1):29-31.
doi: 10.4103/0970-9371.66690.

Sarcomatoid chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: Cytohistopathological correlation of a case

Indranil Chakrabarti  1 , Amita Giri, Kaushik Majumdar, D E Anuradha
Affiliations
Case Reports

Sarcomatoid chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: Cytohistopathological correlation of a case

Indranil Chakrabarti et al. J Cytol. 2010 Jan.

Abstract

Sarcomatoid renal cell carcinomas of the kidney are rare neoplasms constituting about 1-5% of all renal malignant neoplasms. These are aggressive tumors and are commonly associated with conventional (clear cell) renal cell carcinomas, but cases associated with chromophobe renal cell carcinomas are sparse. Cytological features of such lesions have rarely been reported. Here, we report a unique case of a 48-year-old male patient who presented with right flank lump and pain. A fine needle aspiration was performed from the lesion under ultrasound guidance and a cytological diagnosis of pleomorphic sarcoma was made. A right-sided radical nephrectomy was carried out and subsequent histopathology revealed a sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma with wide areas of necrosis coexisting with chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with calcification. Differentiation of pleomorphic sarcoma from a sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma is, thus, challenging from cytopathology smears and the differential diagnoses should always be borne in mind while giving a cytopathological opinion.

Keywords: Cytology; kidney; pleomorphic sarcoma; sarcomatoid chromophobe renal cell carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Microphotograph from cytology smears showing clusters of round to oval malignant cells with nuclear pleomorphism, overlapping, focal spindling and bizarre cells (H and E, ×400). Lower left inset shows another cluster of pleomorphic malignant cells (H and E, ×400). Upper right inset shows bizarre multinucleated tumor giant cells (MGG, ×1000)
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Microphotograph showing sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma with bizarre tumor giant cells and necrosis (H and E, ×100). Inset showing tumor giant cell among pleomorphic cells (H and E, ×400).(b) Microphotograph showing chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (arrow) admixed with sarcomatoid areas with bizarre cells and giant cells (arrowheads) (H and E, ×400)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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