[Renal adenoma: dignity and management (author's transl)]

At the Department of Urology, University of Mainz Medical School, 286 patients were operated between 1967 and 1976 for alleged renal cell carcinoma. In 7 patients (2.4%) a renal adenoma was diagnosed. A search in the pertinent literature revealed among patients treated for renal tumors an incidence between 0.21 and 4.4%. There is no reliable preoperative test to distinguish clinically between renal cell carcinoma and adenoma. Even intraoperative frozen section does not safely rule out the possibility of malignant degeneration. Thus, tumor-nephrectomy remains the treatment of choice. Partial resection is warranted only in solitary kidneys, as supported by 2 own cases. Eventually, malignant change and dissemination occurs. Histologically, the renal adenomas are therefore classified as G0 tumors.