Vascular specificity in differentiating adrenal carcinoma from renal cell carcinoma.

Cases of adrenal and renal cell carcinoma were reviewed to evaluate vascular origin and architecture. All 9 cases of adrenal carcinoma showed fine, sparse neovascularity. Coarse or at least extensive, neovascularity was demonstrated in 40 of 45 cases of renal cell carcinoma. An analysis of the angiographic features correlated with the known anatomical variations will nearly always enable one to ascertain the origin of the tumor.