Renal tumors of childhood: A pragmatic approach

Renal tumors are one of the most common solid neoplasms of childhood. The stage and histology of these lesions were crucial to the design of the highly customized therapeutic protocols that have been developed by the National Wilms Tumor Study Group. As such, accurate diagnosis and staging of each individual case are essential in guiding appropriate clinical management. In this article, we focus on practical diagnostic aspects of the 4 "classic" childhood renal tumors: Wilms tumor, clear cell sarcoma of kidney, rhabdoid tumor, and congenital mesoblastic nephroma. Each of these tumors has characteristic histologic patterns and cytologic features that usually permit a confident diagnosis by routine light microscopy. Ancillary techniques are mostly of value in rare cases of primary or secondary involvement of the childhood kidney by other tumors and in putative cases of adult Wilms tumor.