Renal Lymphoma

Excerpt

Renal involvement in lymphoma is commonly in the presence of widespread nodal or extranodal lymphoma. This is classified as secondary renal lymphoma (SRL). Rarely, lymphoma may involve the kidneys alone without evidence of disease elsewhere; this presentation is termed primary renal lymphoma (PRL). Although the diagnosis of renal lymphoma can be challenging, an awareness of the spectrum of imaging findings can help to differentiate lymphoma from other renal malignancies, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and can lead to appropriate recommendations for biopsy. An accurate diagnosis is critical because renal lymphoma is treated by chemotherapy whereas RCC is typically managed by surgery or ablation.Renal lymphoma is commonly secondary to lymphomatous infiltration of the kidneys in systemic disseminated lymphoma and advanced stage IV disease while renal lymphoma arising primarily in the renal parenchyma is a rarely described entity. Primary renal lymphoma comprises only 0.7% of extranodal lymphomas.