Open AccessDifferential diagnosis and unusual diffuse cytokeratin expression in renal paraganglioma: A case report
Author(s) -
Junying Wang,
Lin Zhong
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indian journal of pathology and microbiology/indian journal of pathology and microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.217
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 0974-5130
pISSN - 0377-4929
DOI - 10.4103/ijpm.ijpm_708_17
Subject(s) - paraganglioma , cytokeratin , pathology , medicine , kidney , immunohistochemistry , differential diagnosis , renal cell carcinoma , pathological , histopathology
Paraganglioma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor arising from undifferentiated cells of the primitive neural crest. We report a case of renal paraganglioma in a 67-year-old patient. Computed tomography demonstrated a solid mass in the middle and lower pole of the right kidney. Sonography revealed an enlarged right kidney with an irregular shape but distinct border. Renal cell carcinoma was diagnosed provisionally; the tumor was completely resected and submitted for pathological examination. Unexpectedly, histopathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed paraganglioma arising from the renal parenchyma. In this study, we report the exceptional occurrence of Paired box gene 8 (PAX-8) expression in a renal paraganglioma. In addition, we demonstrated diffuse cytokeratin positivity in this renal paraganglioma. Although our report of a paraganglioma originating from the kidney is not unique, our finding expands the known immunophenotypic spectrum of this tumor. The awareness of the possible occurrence of cytokeratin diffuse positivity in paraganglioma is relevant to avoiding misdiagnosis of paraganglioma.