Lipid-laden foamy macrophages in renal cell carcinoma. Potential frozen section diagnostic pitfall.
Lipid-laden foamy macrophages are characteristic of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP). We have encountered a case of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with extensive necrosis, in which confluent sheets of foamy macrophages were a dominant feature. We describe the case and discuss the potential frozen section diagnostic problem in attempting to distinguish between confluent sheets of xanthoma cells a "reactive" change in RCC and xanthoma cells as a fundamental component of XGP. We propose that awareness of that problem should prompt the pathologist to request additional samples.
Department of Pathology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem.
S S
SS
Iskandar
J A
JA
Prahlow
W L
WL
White
D000368:Aged; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005487:Foam Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D011705:Pyelonephritis, Xanthogranulomatous / Q000473:pathology*