Frequency of Benign Lesions in Radiologically Presumed Renal Cell Carcinoma Taking Histopathology as Gold Standard

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) comprises for between 90-95% of renal neoplasms in adults and about 3% of all malignancies overall. Objective: To ascertain the prevalence of benign lesions in radiologically presumed renal cell carcinoma ≤ 7 cm, using histology as the gold standard Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was undertaken at the department of urology. A total number of 131 patients who were diagnosed possibly as RCC on CT scan. Demographic characteristics (age and gender), size of renal mass both pre-operatively and per-operatively were noted. After nephrectomy, the specimen was sent to histopathology laboratory for confirmation of diagnosis. Histopathology reports were analyzed post operatively and frequency of benign lesions in radiologically presumed RCC was determined. Results: Mean age of patients included in this study was 52.02±13.18 years. Mean size of mass pre-operatively was 4.89±1.47 cm. Mean size of mass per-operatively was 5.07±1.44 cm. There were 87 (66.41%) male and 44 (33.59%) female patients. Incidental diagnosis was made in 25 (19.08%) patients. Symptomatic predisposition was found in 107 (81.68%) patients. Partial nephrectomy was performed in 59 (45.04%) and radical nephrectomy was performed in 72 (54.96%) patients. Malignancy was diagnosed in 109 (83.21%) patients and benign lesions were diagnosed in 22 (16.79%) patients on histopathology reporting. Conclusion: The frequency of benign lesions in radiologically presumed renal cell masses in our study is 16.8%. The findings of this study may assist urologist in advising patients who have small renal masses and choosing the best course of action