Morphological and Histological Features of Nephrectomy Materials: A Single-Center Experience and Short Review of the Literature

Abstract

Objective: To determine the demographic characteristics of patients undergoing nephrectomy at a tertiary care hospital and to analyze the spectrum of renal tumors based on histopathological findings of nephrectomy specimens by current literature. Material and Method: The results of nephrectomy materials admitted to the pathology clinic between January 2019 and December 2023 were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of the included patients, presenting complaints, reasons for nephrectomy, surgical method, nephrectomy area, tumor dimension, and histopathological reports were recorded in a standard data form. Results: A total of 325 nephrectomy materials were included in the study. 61.5% of the patients were male. The mean age of the patients was 54.5±20.2 years (min:3 max:91). The most common presenting complaints were flank pain (28.3%). The most commonly observed pathological malignancy was clear cell carcinoma (32%), and it was found to be significantly higher in male patients (38.5%) (p=0.001). The most frequently detected pathological TNM grade of the patients was grade 1, and the histological WHO/ISUP grade was 2. 28.9% of the patients (n:94) received a diagnosis incidentally. Among those incidentally diagnosed patients, 87.2% (n:82) were histopathologically malignant. When benign pathological diagnoses were examined, the most common diagnosis was pyelonephritis, followed by oncocytoma, benign cystic disease, and angiomyolipoma, respectively. Conclusion: According to our study results, malignant tumors are more commonly observed than benign neoplasms. Despite advancements in imaging technologies, the histopathological diagnosis of renal masses cannot be determined preoperatively, and surgical intervention is required for diagnosis