Does color of tumor matter?

sdedmon
sdedmon Member Posts: 4
in Kidney Cancer #1
I am one week out of a partial nephrectomy on my left kidney. I have not gotten the results of my pathology report back, but my doctor said the tumor was abnormal to him because it was "black" in color...and he had not seen that before. He told me he did not know what it meant. Has anyone else had this happen? How was the pathology? Thanks! Susan

Comments

  • growler9
    growler9 Member Posts: 48
    #2
    Beats me!
    Hi - Susan

    What a unique question! I did some research and found that tumors of the various types of RCC do in fact typically have different colors!

    They varied from white to beige to tan to yellow to orange with Papillary being the darkest at greasy brown. I found no reference to a black color. I saw no reference to color having a good - bad rating. It will be interesting to see if the abnormal color is noted on the pathology report.

    In any case it's no longer part of you! Welcome to the club! Hope your healing well. Best wishes. Alan
  • Texas_wedge
    Texas_wedge Member Posts: 2,798
    #3
    growler9 said:

    Beats me!
    Hi - Susan

    What a unique question! I did some research and found that tumors of the various types of RCC do in fact typically have different colors!

    They varied from white to beige to tan to yellow to orange with Papillary being the darkest at greasy brown. I found no reference to a black color. I saw no reference to color having a good - bad rating. It will be interesting to see if the abnormal color is noted on the pathology report.

    In any case it's no longer part of you! Welcome to the club! Hope your healing well. Best wishes. Alan

    Colour of tumour
    My understanding is that it matters a great deal and is an important element in guiding pathological appraisal. My semi-educated guess is that the colour your doc saw is due to haemorraging or to necrosis and, if the latter, shows dead tissue which may be of clinical importance. Please let us know what you're told when you have asked for an improved level of information on the matter - it will help to educate us all.
  • MedScanMan
    MedScanMan Member Posts: 107
    #4
    Tumor Identification
    I don't know much about the color of tumor but I do know that if a physician is unsure and together with the pathologist they need to know exactly what they're looking at, a section of the tumor is sent to AFIP. (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology). All answers are there. You might even request that your physician do this. It takes about six weeks to get results. I had some experience with this when my dad was diagnosed with a myosarcoma of the abdomen. It didn't look right to the pathologist and six weeks later we knew why. It came back as a Leiomyosarcoma. A combination of fat and muscle. You never know what you're going to hear from AFIP but you can bet it will be correct.

    Jeff
  • sdedmon
    sdedmon Member Posts: 4
    #5
    growler9 said:

    Beats me!
    Hi - Susan

    What a unique question! I did some research and found that tumors of the various types of RCC do in fact typically have different colors!

    They varied from white to beige to tan to yellow to orange with Papillary being the darkest at greasy brown. I found no reference to a black color. I saw no reference to color having a good - bad rating. It will be interesting to see if the abnormal color is noted on the pathology report.

    In any case it's no longer part of you! Welcome to the club! Hope your healing well. Best wishes. Alan

    Thanks Alan...
    Thanks for the research. I'm just interested and anxious! I appreciate your looking into it...hopefully, I will know something tomorrow when i go to get my staples out and get pathology report! Thanks again! Susan
  • sdedmon
    sdedmon Member Posts: 4
    #6
    Texas_wedge said:

    Colour of tumour
    My understanding is that it matters a great deal and is an important element in guiding pathological appraisal. My semi-educated guess is that the colour your doc saw is due to haemorraging or to necrosis and, if the latter, shows dead tissue which may be of clinical importance. Please let us know what you're told when you have asked for an improved level of information on the matter - it will help to educate us all.

    I will let you all know Texas_wedge!
    I go tomorrow to get my staples removed and hopefully get the results from the path report! I will definitely let you all know! Thanks for the encouragement! Susan
  • sdedmon
    sdedmon Member Posts: 4
    #7
    MedScanMan said:

    Tumor Identification
    I don't know much about the color of tumor but I do know that if a physician is unsure and together with the pathologist they need to know exactly what they're looking at, a section of the tumor is sent to AFIP. (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology). All answers are there. You might even request that your physician do this. It takes about six weeks to get results. I had some experience with this when my dad was diagnosed with a myosarcoma of the abdomen. It didn't look right to the pathologist and six weeks later we knew why. It came back as a Leiomyosarcoma. A combination of fat and muscle. You never know what you're going to hear from AFIP but you can bet it will be correct.

    Jeff

    Thanks Jeff!
    Maybe they will know something!

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