Cytologic findings of acquired cystic disease-associated renal cell carcinoma: a report of two cases.

Renal tumors may arise in the setting of end-stage renal cell disease. The risk is 100 times that of the normal population with an incidence ranging from 3-7%. The most common malignant tumor to arise in the setting of acquired cystic disease of the kidney is the acquired cystic disease-associated renal cell carcinoma (ACD-associated RCC). The cytomorphologic features of ACD-associated RCC, which has not been described previously, show moderately cellular specimens composed of clusters of cells with papillary configuration. The cells ranged from polygonal to columnar and contained abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasm. The nuclei were round and centrally located, and the chromatin was finely granular with prominent central nucleoli that corresponded to Fuhrman's grade 3 nucleolar size. The main differential diagnosis is type 2 papillary renal cell carcinoma, from which it can be distinguished based on clinical findings only at this moment.