Renal carcinoid tumor: a clinicopathologic study of 21 cases.

Renal carcinoid tumors are exceedingly rare tumors that have been primarily documented as case reports in the literature. In this study, we report a series of 21 renal carcinoid tumors, with emphasis on histopathologic features and clinical outcomes. Patient age ranged from 27 to 78 years (average 52 y). The majority of specimens consisted of radical nephrectomies with or without associated lymph node dissection. Nine tumors were present in the left kidney and 10 were present in the right; location was not available for 2 specimens. No anatomic region of the kidney appeared to be preferentially involved. Twenty tumors were unifocal and ranged in size from 2.6 to 17 cm (average 6.4 cm), and 1 tumor presented as 2 nodules measuring 1 and 2.8 cm. Four patients had a documented history of a horseshoe kidney. Two patients had a history of renal calculi and 1 patient had a history of urothelial carcinoma 8 years prior. Presenting symptoms and clinical findings included back or flank pain (n=6/9), enlarging abdominal mass or fullness (n=2/9), hematuria (n=2/9), and anemia (n=1/9). Twelve patients had concurrent metastases at the time of initial surgery to sites including lymph nodes (n=11/12), liver (n=5/12), bone (n=1/12), and lung (n=1/12). One additional patient developed subsequent metastases to the liver within 6 months of surgery. Examination of the specimens identified carcinoid tumor with a variety of patterns including tightly packed cords and trabeculae with minimal stroma (n=17/21), trabecular growth with prominent stroma (n=4/21), focal solid nests (n=4/21), focal glandlike lumina (n=4/21). The border between tumor and normal kidney was sharply defined in most cases (n=16/21), although focal infiltration was noted in 5/21 cases. Extracapsular extension was documented in 11/21 (52%) cases. Calcifications were present in 5/21 cases. Mitotic activity, measured as mitoses per 10 high-power fields, ranged from 0 to 2 in most cases, with 1 case demonstrating up to 4 mitotic figures per single high-power field. Necrosis was absent in all cases. Immunostains were frequently positive for synaptophysin (n=18/20), chromogranin (n=13/20), Cam5.2 (n=14/16), and vimentin (n=12/15). CK7 was focally positive in a small subset of cases (n=3/18) and CK20 was positive in 1 case. TTF-1 and WT-1 were negative in all cases examined. Clinical follow-up was available on 15 patients and ranged from 3 months to 11 years. One patient died of disease at 8 months after surgery and 1 patient died without disease at 11 years after surgery. Of the remaining patients, 7 patients were alive without disease and 6 patients were alive with disease. Additional metastases developed in 4 patients and included metastases to the liver and bone.

Transbronchial biopsy in usual interstitial pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: Usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) is a slowly progressive, usually fatal form of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia for which there is no effective treatment. Transbronchial biopsy (TBB) has been utilized only to exclude other diseases such as sarcoidosis, lymphangitic carcinoma, and infection, for example, but TBB is generally considered to have little role in confirming UIP. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether diagnostic changes of UIP can be appreciated on TBB specimens. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of TBB specimens from patients with proven UIP. SETTING: Two study sites in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-one patients with UIP confirmed by surgical lung biopsy and/or lung explant, and 1 patient with UIP confirmed by clinical and radiographic findings along with follow-up information. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Adequate tissue for diagnosis was available in 18 cases; in 7 cases (32% overall), there were varying combinations of interstitial fibrosis in a patchwork pattern along with fibroblast foci and/or honeycomb change. These features were considered diagnostic of UIP. Interstitial fibrosis along with fibroblast foci or honeycomb change were seen in two other cases, but the fibrosis lacked a patchwork pattern, and these features were considered consistent with UIP. Nonspecific interstitial fibrosis alone was found in nine cases. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, characteristic histologic features of UIP can be identified on TBB specimens more often than previously appreciated. TBB may be more useful in confirming UIP than previously recognized.

Juvenile granulosa cell tumor of the testis.

Juvenile granulosa cell tumor of the testis is a rare type of intermediate stromal cell tumor. Only 11 cases of juvenile granulosa cell tumor of the testis have been reported to the national tumor registry as of December 2001. We report an additional case of primary juvenile granulosa cell tumor of the testis. The benign lesion was managed successfully with orchiectomy, and follow-up computed tomography revealed no evidence of recurrence at 6 months. The histopathologic features, treatment, and prognosis of this unusual tumor are reviewed.