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Lipid-laden foamy macrophages in renal cell carcinoma. Potential frozen section diagnostic pitfall
S S Iskandar1, J A Prahlow, W L White
1Department of Pathology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem.
Pathology, Research and Practice
|June 1, 1993
Abstract:
Lipid-laden foamy macrophages are characteristic of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP). We have encountered a case of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), with extensive necrosis, in which confluent sheets of foamy macrophages were a dominant feature. We describe the case and discuss the potential frozen section diagnostic problem in attempting to distinguish between confluent sheets of xanthoma cells a "reactive" change in RCC and xanthoma cells as a fundamental component of XGP. We propose that awareness of that problem should prompt the pathologist to request additional samples.