Loading
Collecting duct carcinoma is a very rare, aggressive kidney cancer that starts in the tubes deep in the kidney that collect urine. It is usually found after it has spread, does not respond to the usual kidney cancer drugs, and is treated with the platinum chemotherapy used for bladder cancer, with surgery where possible.
Collecting duct carcinoma is a high-grade adenocarcinoma of the distal nephron, medullary in location, with tubular or tubulopapillary growth and a desmoplastic stroma; the 2022 WHO classification keeps it as a type and separates SMARCB1-deficient renal medullary carcinoma, its closest relative, as a molecularly defined type (Moch 2022). In a series of 39 collecting duct and 13 renal medullary carcinomas, both favoured the right kidney, centred on the medulla, averaged 7 cm, and showed poorly differentiated histology with desmoplasia, inflammation, lymphovascular invasion and perinephric extension in nearly all (Am J Surg Pathol 2012). In SEER, 74.4 percent presented at stage III or IV and most tumours were under 7 cm (Frontiers in Oncology 2021).
How it differs from its parent: renal cell carcinoma's VEGF and checkpoint pathways do not carry over; a systematic review found a 26 percent objective response to gemcitabine with cisplatin or carboplatin in 23 patients with metastatic disease and no response to immunotherapy in 49 patients treated in two older studies (Current Oncology 2013).
How common: 286 US cases in 15 years (Frontiers in Oncology 2021).
Treatment: nephrectomy where the disease is resectable; gemcitabine with cisplatin or carboplatin for metastatic disease, borrowed from urothelial cancer, as the review describes; checkpoint inhibitor combinations are used off the renal cell carcinoma pathway without trial evidence in this type (Current Oncology 2013).
Very rare and falling: 286 patients in the US SEER registry over 2004 to 2018, median age 59, 67.5 percent men, 74.4 percent stage III or IV at diagnosis (Frontiers in Oncology 2021). Cancer Research UK lists clear cell at 70 to 80 percent, papillary 5 to 10 and chromophobe 3 to 5 percent of renal cell cancers; collecting duct carcinoma is well under 1 percent.
Renal cell carcinoma comes from the kidney's filtering cortex, urothelial cancer from the lining of the collecting system and bladder, and the adrenal on top hosts cortical and medullary (neuroblastoma) tumours.
Same organ: Renal medullary carcinoma (SMARCB1-deficient), TFE3-rearranged (translocation) renal cell carcinoma, Fumarate hydratase-deficient renal cell carcinoma (HLRCC-associated), Succinate dehydrogenase-deficient renal cell carcinoma, Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma of the kidney, Eosinophilic solid and cystic renal cell carcinoma, Clear cell papillary renal cell tumour, Urothelial carcinoma of the urethra, Squamous cell carcinoma of the urethra, Adenocarcinoma of the urethra (including clear cell adenocarcinoma), Melanoma of the urethra, Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, Muscle-invasive and advanced bladder cancer, Bladder & urothelial cancer, Clear cell renal cell carcinoma, Papillary renal cell carcinoma, Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, Renal cell carcinoma, Wilms tumour (nephroblastoma), Neuroblastoma (paediatric), Low-risk neuroblastoma (INRG very low and low risk, including stage MS), Intermediate-risk neuroblastoma, High-risk neuroblastoma, Adrenocortical carcinoma, Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL), Urethral cancer, Penile cancer, Localised penile cancer (organ-confined, node-negative), Node-positive and metastatic penile cancer, Localised adrenocortical carcinoma (ENSAT stage I to III, resectable), Advanced and metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma (ENSAT stage IV or unresectable), Hereditary pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (SDHx, VHL, RET, NF1, MAX and TMEM127), Metastatic pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma
Nephrectomy where resectable; gemcitabine with cisplatin or carboplatin for metastatic disease, borrowed from urothelial cancer; renal cell carcinoma drugs have little evidence here.
Country and place are remembered in this browser only. A postcode is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to find coordinates when you press the button; nothing else leaves your device.
Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"Collecting duct carcinoma of the kidney" OR ABSTRACT:"Collecting duct carcinoma of the kidney" OR TITLE:"Bellini duct carcinoma" OR ABSTRACT:"Bellini duct carcinoma" OR TITLE:"Carcinoma of the collecting ducts of Bellini" OR ABSTRACT:"Carcinoma of the collecting ducts of Bellini" OR TITLE:"Collecting duct renal cell carcinoma" OR ABSTRACT:"Collecting duct renal cell carcinoma" OR TITLE:"Collecting duct and medullary SMARCB1" OR ABSTRACT:"Collecting duct and medullary SMARCB1") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about Collecting duct carcinoma of the kidney, not a curated reading list.
No targets or pathways are linked to this cancer yet. Browse the gene hub →
Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record.
One section per setting: the options named, what each is for, the trials behind them, the recorded trade-offs and the questions to ask.
Bleeding that will not stop, black or bloody stools, or unexplained bruising when platelets are expected to be low.
Dose by Calvert formula using GFR (see the calculators).
Reactions around the moment a drug is given: chills, fever or breathlessness from antibodies (infusion reactions), true allergy (hypersensitivity, rarely anaphylaxis), and leakage of a damaging drug into tissue around the vein (extravasation).
During chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer a temperature over 37.5 C or below 36 C, shivering, or feeling unwell even with a normal temperature means ringing the hospital's 24-hour line straight away; breathing very fast, confusion, mottled skin or no urine in a day means 999.
See all on the product pages:CarboplatinGemcitabine + cisplatin·Printable cards in the navigator
Newly diagnosed? Read the first 60 days with Collecting duct carcinoma of the kidney, then print the one-page appointment sheet with room for the answers.
Print this page for your appointment (your browser's print command). These prompts are for discussion; your clinical team knows your case.
Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record.
Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked.