Epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney

Abstract

Objective To review the diagnosis and treatment of epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney. Methods Five cases of epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney were retrospectively analyzed in the aspects of imaging and pathologic characteristics. There were 3 males and 2 females with average age of 46 years (ranging from 26-64 years). There were 3 patients complained of pains of lumber. Two cases were found renal masses in routine physical examination. The mass diameter was 2.9-10. 1 cm. Two cases were diagnosed as angiomyolipoma and three as malignant tumors as kidney cancer, tumor of the adrenal gland or tumor of the liver with ultrasound and CT scan. Four of the 5cases accepted partial nephrectomy and 1 with radical nephrectomy. Results Epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney was composed of abnormal thick parietal vessel, smooth muscle and adipose tissue in different proportional. The cytoplasm of epithelioid cells was acidophilia or lucency, which had acidophilia particles and abundant blood vessels. Epithelioid cells were round or polygon, surrounded to blood vessels, distributed in lipoid. The SMA, Vimentin and HMB45 were positive by immunohistochemisty. The post-operative histological diagnosis showed that all cases were epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney. All patients were followed up for 2 to 12 months. No patients had locally recurrence or distant metastasis. Conclusions The diagnosis of epithelioid angiomyolipoma of the kidney relies on histopathology results. The immunohistochemical staining could be helpful for diagnosis and differential diagnosis. Key words: Kidney neoplasms; Hamartoma; Epithelioid cell