Renal adenomas

In presenting five new cases of renal adenomas the authors describe the general nature of these rare tumours. If the small adenoma corresponding to microscopic forms is frequent, the large adenoma is rare and always solitary. Haematuria and pain are the most common signs. The classic criterion of non-malignancy in a solid tumour measuring less than 3 cm has no diagnostic value. From a review of the lieterature on the subject, the authors demonstrate the angio-architecture corresponding to the different types of adenoma: the tubular adenoma which is hypervascularised and well circumscribed; the papillary adenoma, often cortical, hypovascular or avascular with bordering arcade; the alveolar adenoma; the mixed forms. They stress the difficulty of radiological diagnosis and the frequency of transitional forms with cancer. The place of angiography is in the pre-operative diagnostic assessment and in defining localised anomalies in angio-architecture which can guide histological examination in the search for neoplastic foci.