Just received my pathology report

AndyE
AndyE Member Posts: 51

I just received the pathology report electronically, and the tumor ended up being 3cmX4cmX5cm.  They called the tumor RENAL CELL CARCINOMA, CLEAR CELL (CONVENTIONAL) TYPE WITH
DEGENERATIVE CHANGES AND METAPLASTIC BONE FORMATION (sorry for the all caps...I cut and pasted it from the report).  I don't know what degenerative changes and metaplastic bone formation means, but I do know clear cell is the most common type.  It was labeled as t1bNXMX and was grade 3.  The report also said that the margins tested negative for carsonoma.  Also states that the carsonoma was confined to the kidney.  The other thing I don't understand is this:  BACKGROUND RENAL PARENCHYMA WITH CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH PROXIMITY
TO TUMOR.  Does anyone know what this means?  All in all I am taking this report as a positive (or at least as positive as it could be in this case).  To me the most important thing is that it is stage 1 and had negative margins around the entire thing.

Comments

  • sblairc
    sblairc Member Posts: 585 Member
    Interesting but not serious from what I can tell so far.

    I just did a little googling. Sounds like a rare event, bone growing in the tumor from what I can tell. Here is a blurb from a journal article, there are lots out there. From what I can find so far, it does not appear to be something to be worried about, but I'd ask your doctor for sure. 

     

    "Renal cell carcinoma of any architectural pattern may exhibit varying degrees of necrosis and haemorrhage. Other degenerative changes including oedema, fibrosis, hemosiderin, cholesterol clefts, and calcification are also seen. Metaplastic bone formation, on the other hand, is a rare event.1 Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is known to be primary inducer of new bone formation and is suggested to be involved in ossification of several cancers.2Patients with ossified RCC usually have an early stage of tumour without invasion beyond the gross margins of the tumor. Therefore, as a tumor marker, ossification of RCC implies a less extensive surgical resection and a much more favorable prognosis"