Your new experience awaits. Try the new design now and help us make it even better

CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Genitourinary Oncology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1675819

Clinical pathological characteristics, diagnosis and treatment analysis of eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma: Experience from a five-case series

Provisionally accepted
  • 1Department of Urology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming City, China
  • 2Department of Pathology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming City, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Background: Eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma (ESC-RCC) is a rare renal tumor subtype. Accurate diagnosis and effective management remain challenging due to its distinct but often overlapping features with other renal tumors. This study aims to characterize the clinicopathological features, management, and outcomes of a five-case series to improve diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for this entity. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed five patients with pathologically confirmed ESC-RCC from 2020 to 2025. Data on clinical presentation, imaging, histopathology, immunohistochemistry (IHC), surgical management, and long-term follow-up were collected. Results: The majority of patients (4/5) presented with flank pain. Imaging revealed solitary, well-demarcated cystic-solid masses with progressive enhancement in solid components and a lack of enhancement in cystic areas. Histopathology consistently showed a mixed growth pattern with eosinophilic, hobnail-like cells and distinct perinuclear halos. IHC was crucial for diagnosis, with consistent CK20+/CK7−/CD117− immunoprofiles. While most patients had a good prognosis with surgical resection, our series also highlighted a young patient (29-year-old) and cases with metastatic potential and recurrence. Conclusion: ESC-RCC exhibits a unique clinicopathological and immunophenotypic profile. Early detection and complete surgical resection are critical for a favorable outcome. The potential for metastasis and recurrence underscores the need for genetic testing (e.g., TSC gene mutations) and multidisciplinary collaboration to guide individualized treatment.

Keywords: ESC-RCC, Renal cell carcinoma, Pathological characteristics, Treatment, diagnosis

Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 20 Oct 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zi, Ke, Feng, Guo, Zhang and He. 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:
Changxing Ke, changxingke666@126.com
Runlin Feng, fengrunlin@kmmu.edu.cn

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.