Transitional cell tumors of the kidney: how diagnostic is the angiogram?

Angiograms of 51 test cases including 34 transitional cell carcinomas, eight inflammatory lesions, four hypernephromas, and five miscellaneous disorders were shown to six radiologists for analysis of the angiographic features and specific diagnosis. Overall accuracy was 60% with a false positive rate of 44%. The most common false positive diagnosis occurred with inflammatory lesions (seven of eight). False negative cases were variously called normal, hypernephromas, inflammatory, or other. Vessel encasement (26%), neovascularity (56%), and tumor blush (15%) were recognized far less frequently in the transitional cell tumors of this series than in previous reports in the literature. Further, when hydronephrosis was present, the angiograpm was not helpful in determining the etiology. It is concluded that the 'classic' angiographic findings associated with this tumor are only moderately reliable since they can be mimicked by other conditions.