Accidental finding of renal myxoma and a literature review

We present the case of a middle-aged Chinese woman who presented as asymptomatic; however, we found an irregular right renal mass in this patient. She underwent partial nephrectomy after comprehensive evaluation, and she was finally diagnosed with renal myxoma according to pathological and immunohistochemical studies. Myxomas are rare, benign, soft-tissue tumors that mainly occur in the heart and skin, although various anatomical locations have been described. The kidneys are a rare location of myxoma; thus, renal myxomas may easily be misdiagnosed. To date, approximately 17 cases of renal myxoma have been reported in the English literature since 1968. All the patients in these cases underwent nephrectomy as treatment, and were disease-free on follow-up. Postoperative pathology facilitates a decisive diagnosis that differentiates benign from malignant myxoma, which is vital for the following treatment and prognosis.