CASE REPORT article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Genitourinary Oncology
Multimodal imaging findings of primary renal well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (carcinoid): a case report and literature review
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Clinical Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong, China
- 2Department of Medical Imaging, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, China
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Primary renal well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare. Due to their non-specific nature, the detection and monitoring of NETs remain highly challenging. Here, we report a case of a 45-year-old man who was admitted after an incidental finding of a space-occupying lesion in the kidney during a routine physical examination. The patient underwent CT and MRI multimodal imaging, followed by pathological and immunohistochemical analysis after surgery, leading to a diagnosis of well-differentiated renal NET. He was subsequently followed up for a long period. A review of the literature, in conjunction with this case, revealed that these tumors present with non-specific clinical and imaging features. Diagnosis primarily relies on pathological and immunohistochemical evaluation. Well-differentiated renal neuroendocrine tumors are associated with low malignant potential and a favorable prognosis. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice, and long-term follow-up is essential to monitor the patient's condition. By combining this case with existing literature, we aim to provide valuable insights for clinicians in the diagnosis and management of renal NETs.
Keywords: primary renal well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors, carcinoid, Multimodal Imaging, Immunohistochemistry, case report
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 18 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wei, Zhang, Chen and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shujun Zhang
Yueqin Chen
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