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Mar 31, 2020Keywords:
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Clinical presentation and histopathologic patterns of renal cell carcinoma at a tertiary hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A retrospective study
Abstract
Background
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 2% to 3% of all adult malignancies. It is the seventh most common cancer among men and the ninth most common among women. More than 70% of all cancer deaths now occur in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to describe the clinical presentation and histopathologic features of renal cell carcinoma among patients presenting to Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods
In this hospital-based, retrospective study, we analysed medical record data of patients who underwent surgery for RCC between 1 June 2017 and 31 May 2018. All charts of patients registered with a diagnosis of RCC were retrieved from the hospital archive and carefully evaluated, with data collection guided by a semistructured pro forma. The data were double-checked before being analysed using SPSS, version 20.
Results
The records of 64 patients (33 men and 31 women) were identified and analysed. Flank pain, mostly described as discomfort and reported by 94% of patients, was the commonest presenting symptom. The classic triad of flank pain, haematuria, and a palpable flank mass was present in 25% of patients. The most common postoperative histopathologic RCC type in this cohort was the clear cell type (55%), followed by the chromophobe (20%) and papillary (18%) types.
Conclusions
Flank pain is an important feature of RCC, and flank discomfort should not be taken lightly, as it can signify serious underlying disease. The triad of flank pain, haematuria, and a palpable flank mass was observed in a quarter of the patients in this series; this is evidence that many RCC patients present late in the disease course in our setting. Postoperative histopathologic examination revealed that more than half of the cases were associated with clear cell RCC and that chromophobe RCC and papillary RCC each accounted for about one-fifth of the cases.
