Sarcomatoid Transformation of Cromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma: An Unusual Pathology. Our Experience, Definition of Therapeutic Guidelines and Review of Literature

Irene De La Parra¹, Álvaro Serrano¹, Roser Vives¹, Juan Hermida¹, Luis Ignacio Diez-Valladares², Jerónimo Barrera³, José Antonio Cortés⁴, Pilar González-Peramato⁵, Ángel Gómez¹, Jesús Moreno¹

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¹ Department of Urology, Health Research Institute, Clínico San Carlos Hospital, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

² Department of General Surgery, Clínico San Carlos Hospital, Madrid, Spain

³ Department of Radiology, Clínico San Carlos Hospital, Madrid, Spain

⁴ Department of Pathology, Clínico San Carlos Hospital, Madrid, Spain

⁵ Department of Pathology, University Hospital La Paz, Autónoma University, Madrid, Spain

EJMO 2021, 5(4), 361–367; https://doi.org/10.14744/ejmo.2021.47478

Submitted: 14 September 2021 | Accepted: 9 December 2021 | Published: 20 December 2021

© 2021 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )

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Abstract

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) accounts for 4-6% of RCC1. Most of ChRCC have good prognosis, but sarcomatoid transformation implies poor prognosis factor2. Although sarcomatoid RCC was initially described as an own histological entity3, despite the fact that its transformation mechanism is not known, it is nowadays recognized that this histology represents a transformation or dedifferentiation of a high-grade malignant neoplasia originating from any other histological subtype of RCC2. ChRCC with sarcomatoid differentiation is very rare, with a few reported cases and there is no consensus about the treatment of patients affected by this variant of RCC in the guidelines. Therefore, we consider appropriate to present these two cases and review the literature, focusing on the incidence and the current therapeutic options.

Keywords

Renal cell carcinoma

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma

Sarcomatoid transformation

Conflict of interest

None declared.

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