Renal neoplasia and acquired cystic kidney disease in patients receiving long-term dialysis.

Acquired cystic disease (ACD) is a recently described phenomenon occurring in the native kidneys of patients treated with long-term dialysis. Renal cell carcinoma is being diagnosed with increasing frequency in patients with chronic renal failure. In most, but not all, instances the cancers develop in association with ACD. Careful microscopic examination of end-stage kidneys undergoing dialysis discloses cysts lined with hyperplastic cells. Papillary hyperplasia of cyst epithelium is recorded in virtually every detailed pathology report of tumors arising in ACD and is the likely pathogenetic basis for the development of renal tumors in cystic kidneys undergoing dialysis. The pathology of ACD and its related neoplasms is reviewed. An estimate is made of the incidence of ACD and renal cell carcinoma in patients receiving dialysis by tabulating data from studies published in medical journals. Acquired cystic disease is found in approximately 35% of patients treated by long-term hemodialysis. Renal cell carcinoma occurs in approximately 5.8% of cases of ACD. Most of the cancers are found incidentally at autopsy or by examination of kidneys from bilateral nephrectomies and are of little clinical significance, but occasional cases present aggressive neoplasms that metastasize and cause the deaths of patients.