Comments:
Numerous smaller lesions with papillary architecture were scattered throughout the kidney. They ranged in size from microscopic to a few mm. One such lesion is shown here in its entirety. Currently, no reliable histologic criteria exist to separate small renal cortical adenomas that lack the potential to progress from those that are capable of metastases. The use of tumor size as a criterion for this distinction is controversial and considered unreliable by many pathologists. Certainly any tumor with clear cells should be considered to be capable of progression regardless of size.
return to Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma
