Duct of Bellini - Cancer of Bellini's Duct

Cancer of Bellini's Duct

Collecting duct, or Bellini's duct, carcinoma is a relatively rare subtype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), accounting for less than 1% of all RCCs ( Kennedy et al., 1990 ; Rumpelt et al., 1991 ; Carter et al., 1992 ; Störkel et al., 1997 ; Srigley and Eble, 1998 ; Swartz et al., 2002 ). Many reported cases have occurred in younger patients, often in the third, fourth, or fifth decade of life ( Carter et al., 1992 ). Collecting duct carcinomas are derived from the medulla, but many are infiltrative, and extension into the cortex is common ( Pickhardt et al., 2001 ). Most reported cases have been high grade and advanced stage and have not responded to conventional therapies ( Carter et al., 1992 ; Chao et al., 2002b ; Polascik et al., 2002 ; Mejean et al., 2003 ; Tokuda et al., 2004 ). Most patients are symptomatic at presentation ( Tokuda et al., 2004 ). Immunohistochemical and molecular analyses suggest that collecting duct RCC may resemble transitional cell carcinoma, and some patients with advanced collecting duct RCC have responded to cisplatin- or gemcitabine-based chemotherapy ( Milowsky et al., 2002 ; Peyromaure et al., 2003 )

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.