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Updated: Jun 19, 2026
Point-of-Care Kidney and Genitourinary Ultrasound in Adults: Image Acquisition
Published on: June 21, 2024
Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney in an adult: a case report
Adrian Businger1, Andreas Zettl, Stefan Sonnet
1Department of Surgery, St. Claraspital, Kleinriehenstrasse 30, CH-4016 Basel, Switzerland. adrian.businger@claraspital.ch
Introduction:
Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) occur predominantly in childhood preferentially in the soft tissues of the lower extremity and the paraspinal region. We present here a rare case of a PNET of the kidney in an adult.
Case Presentation:
A tumor adjacent to the right kidney was detected by ultrasound coincidentally at a routine check-up in a 46-year-old woman with irritable bowel syndrome in her medical history. The patient had no clinical signs. Contrast-enhanced computerized tomography scan of the abdomen demonstrated a highly vascularized renal tumor. A retroperitonealectomy with en-bloc resection of the kidney was performed, and histopathological work-up showed a primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney with the characteristic translocation t(11;22)(q24;q12).
Conclusion:
This tumor entity must be accurately distinguished from other renal neoplasms because of the prognostic and therapeutic impact.
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