Evolution of renal cyst to renal carcinoma: a case report and review of literature

Abstract

Background: Renal cyst is a common benign disease which is rare to progress from simple renal cyst to renal cell carcinoma.

Case presentation: A 62-year-old woman who suffered a simple renal cyst for over 20 years complained intermittent lumbar in recent 2 years. At her latest admission, the cyst lesion displayed enhancement in the cystic wall by CT scan and cystic to partially solid change by ultrasound, so we did a partial nephrectomy and found that the cystic lesion had become a cyst-solid transition. The pathology turned out to be renal clear cell carcinoma.

Conclusions: Although the canceration of a renal cyst is a small probability event, patients with a long history of a cyst, especially those with symptoms, need to seek for medical treatment in time, and if necessary, lesion biopsy or resection may be under consideration.

Keywords: Renal cyst; case report; evolution; renal cancer.

Figure 1

Imaging results showed benign cystic changes. A. Ultrasound: Renal cyst of left kidney: intra-cystic hemorrhage. B. CT scan (enhanced): Cystic lesion of left kidney.

Figure 2

Imaging results showed non-benign features. A. Ultrasound: Cystic lesion of left kidney. B. CT scan (enhanced): Cystic lesion of left kidney.

Figure 3

Cystic degeneration is characterized by malignancy. A. Ultrasound: cystic-solid lesion of left kidney. B. Postoperative gross specimen: Pathologic changes of cystic-solid features.

Figure 4

Pathology report: clear renal cell carcinoma. A. Hemotoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain of the renal lesions showed cells with small and round nuclei with cytoplasm that was round and transparent (100×). B. Ksp-cadherin Immunohistochemisty of the renal lesions tested positive (100×).