[Calcified renal cancers. 7 case reports].

The authors report a series of 7 patients with calcified renal cancer (5 men and 2 women with a mean age of 51 years). The calcifications had a variable appearance:arcuate (1 patient), disseminated throughout the mass (5 patients), mixed (1 patient). The distribution according to stage was as follows: T1: 1 patient, T2: 3 patients, T4: 3 patients. Five patients were treated by radical nephrectomy, but surgery was impossible in 2 patients due to the local extension of the tumour. Two patients are alive with no signs of recurrence (follow-up: +7 years and +7 months), 1 died 10 years after his nephrectomy, from myocardial infarction, 1 was lost to follow-up and 3 died within several months. These 3 patients had a spindle cell renal cancer. In the light of this series, the authors situate calcified renal cancers in relation to other calcified renal masses (of various origins) and in relation to adult renal cancers. They demonstrate that any calcified renal mass must raise the suspicion of cancer and they describe the diagnostic approach to such a hypothesis.