Abstract:
Objective To investigate the CT and pathological features of renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma (EAML) and epithelioid-like angiomyolipoma (AML).
Methods Retrospectively collected data on 22 cases of EAML diagnosed by initial pathology in the Shunde Hospital of the Southern Medical University (the First People's Hospital of Shunde in Foshan City) and the First People's Hospital of Foshan from June 2008 to October 2018, including 4 males and 18 females with an average age of 48.9 years (ranging from 22 years to 72 years). The specimens of all lesions were resliced, stained, observed under microscope, and divided into the EAML and epithelioid-like AML groups according to their proportion of epithelioid components. A comparative analysis of CT signs, such as lesion diameter, morphology, liquid necrosis, hemorrhage, fat, and enhanced mode, on the CT images in both groups was performed. The CT values of each phase were measured, and the enhancement ratio of the cortical and medulla phases, which can reflect the degree of enhancement in each phase, was calculated. Independent sample t test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Fisher's exact probability method were used to compare the two groups.
Results The epithelioid cells in the renal EAML group (15 cases) accounted for 86.7%, and the cells were round or polygonal, arranged in nests and sheets, and some nuclei were irregular and atypia. The epithelioid cells in the epithelioid-like AML group (7 cases) accounted for 23.6%, and the rest part were mostly spindle-shaped smooth muscle cells and adipocytes. The renal EAML group and the epithelioid-like AML group had significant differences in the lesion length ((8.40±4.26) cm vs. (4.90±1.84) cm), liquid necrosis (73.3%(11/15) vs. 14.3% (1/7)), fat (86.7%(13/15) vs. 14.3%(1/7)), and enhancement pattern (73.3%(11/15) vs. 14.3%(1/7)) (t=2.66; Fisher's exact probability method; all P<0.05). The cortical phase enhancement ratio was statistically significant (0.61 (0.56, 0.67) vs. 0.96 (0.92, 0.97), Z=−3.56, P<0.001), and the diagnosis efficiency was the highest when the cutoff value was ≤0.73 (area under curve =0.981 (0.813−1.000), Youden=0.87). Youden index of fat-free, "fast-in and slow-out" intensive mode, liquid necrosis, and tumor length >8 cm in order from high to low.
Conclusions EAML has characteristic CT signs especially when the cortical phase enhancement ratio is ≤0.73. In this case, EAML is highly suspected to be possible.