Benign renal schwannoma: Case report and literature review

Abstract

Renal schwannoma is a very infrequent tumor. It is usually benign and it does not have any specific symptoms or imaging characteristics. Its final diagnosis is usually made after surgery. We present a 66 year-old-man that was referred to our center after the casual finding of a renal mass. With a suspected diagnosis of a renal cell carcinoma, a partial nephrectomy was performed. The histological study revealed the final diagnosis of a benign renal schwannoma.

Renal Schwannoma: A Rare Case Report and Literature Review

“…The first case was documented in 1955, and since then existing literature reviews have identified approximately 34 cases [6]. However, recent reports documenting renal schwannoma cases present varying, inconsistent statistics that may not accurately reflect the current literature.…”

“…While retroperitoneal involvement is uncommon, renal schwannomas are extremely rare, with very few cases documented in the literature [ 4 ]. The first case was documented in 1955, and since then existing literature reviews have identified approximately 34 cases [ 6 ]. However, recent reports documenting renal schwannoma cases present varying, inconsistent statistics that may not accurately reflect the current literature.…”

“…While CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the primary imaging modalities used, renal schwannomas cannot easily be diagnosed or differentiated from other renal masses using imaging findings alone [ 6 ]. Renal schwannomas have been shown on MRI to be isointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images [ 2 , 6 ] Likewise, with gadolinium contrast, there is a homogenous enhancement of the solid component of renal schwannomas on T1-weighted images. However, these MRI findings are non-specific, and renal schwannomas are often misdiagnosed as renal cell carcinoma until pathologic examination can be done to confirm the diagnosis either through resection or biopsy.…”

“…However, schwannomas originating within the kidney are extremely rare. The first case of this neoplasm manifesting as a renal mass was documented in 1955 [ 6 ]. Since then, less than 40 cases have been described in the English literature, and this exact number has been variable and inconsistently reported.…”

Renal schwannoma: A case report and literature review of a rare and benign entity mimicking an invasive renal neoplasm

“…Patients vary in age at diagnosis (14–89 years) with a median in the 5th decade of life, and additionally a female predominance. 2 , 3 …”