Enhancing disease awareness for tuberous sclerosis complex in patients with radiologic diagnosis of renal angiomyolipoma: an observational study

Background Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) is a genetic disorder, with renal manifestations like angiomyolipoma (AML) occurring in 70–80% of patients. AML usually cause more complications in TCS patients than in non-TSC patients. However, AML patients are not routinely investigated for TSC. Our aim was to retrospectively assess the correlation between radiologically diagnosed AML and TSC. Methods All patients were stratified into AML related vs. unrelated to TSC. Correlations were calculated to determine the association between age, AML, and TSC. Results Complete data were available for 521 patients with renal AML, in 7 of which the concurrent diagnosis of TSC was found. Younger age significantly positively correlated with the prevalence of TSC in AML patients ( p < 0.01). 37 (7%) of the 521 patients were within the age-range of 18–40 years, in which TSC occurred in 6 cases, 4 (66.7%) of which presented with multiple, bilateral renal AML ( p < 0.05), and 2 (33.3%) of which with a single, unilateral AML ( p < 0.05). In patients with AML but without TSC, unilateral AML was found in 83.9% and bilateral AML in 16.1% (p < 0.05). Simple binary logistic regression analysis revealed bilateral AML (OR 33.0; 95% CI 3.2–344.0; p = 0.003) (but not unilateral AML (OR 0.09; 95% CI 0.01–0.88; p = 0.04)) to be a risk factor for TSC. Conclusions The presence of bilateral AML in patients within the age-range of 18–40 years should raise suspicion for TSC as the underlying cause. Therefore, our advice is to refer patients with multiple bilateral renal AML for further investigations regarding TSC.