Combined small-cell and transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis. A light microscopic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural study of a case with literature review.
Primary small-cell carcinomas of the kidney are rare, locally aggressive, and rapidly fatal neoplasms in elderly people. We report an example of combined small-cell and transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis in a 71-year-old woman who had a history of heavy smoking. The cells that pertained to the small-cell component were morphologically mostly of an intermediate type. Immunohistochemically, they reacted with synaptophysin, carcinoembryonic antigen, and epithelial markers (Lu-5, EAB902, EAB903, and cytokeratin 19), and they contained scanty neurosecretory granules at the ultrastructural level. We review the literature on small-cell carcinoma of the kidney and renal pelvis, and we discuss the histogenesis of such a tumor.
University of Institute Pathology, Lausanne, Switzerland.
L
L
Guillou
B
B
Duvoisin
C
C
Chobaz
G
G
Chapuis
J
J
Costa
D000368:Aged; D018288:Carcinoma, Small Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002295:Carcinoma, Transitional Cell / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007682:Kidney Pelvis; D009378:Neoplasms, Multiple Primary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure