John W. Berg

Clinically unrecognized, silent renal-cell carcinoma in elderly cancer patients.

Forty clinically unrecognized, silent renal‐cell carcinomas, found at autopsy in 8,921 cancer patients, are reported. A clinicopathologic study led to the following conclusions: Clinically unrecognized, silent renal‐cell carcinoma is predominantly a disease of elderly men. Renal‐cell carcinomas may range from small and clinically asymptomatic to large and clinically symptomatic, but the size of the carcinoma is not a reliable criterion of potential aggressiveness. In elderly cancer patients with unusual symptoms, every attempt should be made to rule out a possible additional primary renal neoplasm before attributing the new symptoms to the known cancer.