Simple Renal Cyst

Definition

Acquired cystic lesion, solitary or multiple lined by epithelial cells

Clinical Features

• Incidence

  Solitary renal simple cyst and multiple renal simple cysts are the most frequent cystic lesions of the kidney. The frequency increases with advancing age (Dalton et al. 1986). They are found to 50% of autopsy cases (Tada et al. 1983).

• Age

  It affects adults and elderly.

• Sex

  There is slight male predominance.

• Site

  They are usually unilateral. They can be single or multiple.

• Treatment

  They are usually asymptomatic; their major issue is differentiating them from renal cystic neoplasms (Miller and Brown 1997; Tada et al. 1983; Dalton et al. 1986). In uncommon cases, they may require resection or decompression either because of their size or to improve recurrent pain or bleeding.

• Outcome

  They are benign lesions.

Macroscopy

Solitary renal simple cyst and multiple renal simple cysts, typically located in the cortex (Fig. 1), usually arise in non-diseased kidneys, and this serves to...