Kidney Cancer in India
About Kidney Cancer ?
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a type of cancer that starts in the cells in the kidney.
The two most common types of kidney cancer are renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the renal pelvis. These names reflect the type of cell from which the cancer developed.
The different types of kidney cancer (such as RCC and UCC) develop in different ways, meaning that the diseases have different long term outcomes, and need to be staged and treated in different ways. RCC is responsible for approximately 80% of primary renal cancers, and UCC accounts the majority of the remainder.
Signs and symptoms
The most common signs and symptoms of kidney cancer are a mass in the abdomen and/or blood in the urine (or hematuria). Other symptoms may include tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss, a high temperature and heavy sweating, and persistent pain in the abdomen.However, many of these symptoms can be caused by other conditions, and there may also be no signs or symptoms in a person with kidney cancer, especially in the early stages of the disease.
Causes
Factors that increase the risk of kidney cancer include smoking, which can double the risk of the disease; regular use of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and naproxen, which may increase the risk by 51% or may not;[10] obesity; faulty genes; a family history of kidney cancer; having kidney disease that needs dialysis; being infected with hepatitis C; and previous treatment for testicular cancer or cervical cancer.
Kidney Cancer
Treatment
Treatment for kidney cancer depends on the type and stage of the disease. Surgery is typically the mainstay of treatment and it usually doesn't involve chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as kidney cancers often do not respond to these treatments.
If the cancer has not spread, it will usually be removed by surgery. Sometimes this involves removing the whole kidney, which is called nephrectomy but most tumors are amenable to partial nephrectomy which is removing of the kidney tumor only and preserving the remaining normal kidney. Unfortunately, surgery is not always possible - for example the patient may have other medical conditions that prevent it, or the cancer may have spread around the body and doctors may not be able to remove it.