Kidney Cancer - Treatment & Symptom
Kidney cancer is an abnormal, uncontrolled growth of cells in the kidney. In adults, the most common type of kidney cancer is renal cell carcinoma, which begins in the cells that line the small tubes within your kidneys. It is often a "silent" disease because it may not cause any symptoms in the early stages. Like other major organs in the body, the kidneys can sometimes develop cancer. Like all cancers, kidney cancer begins small and grows larger over time. It usually grows as a single mass within the kidney. But a kidney can have more than one tumor. The kidneys are part of the urinary tract. They make urine by removing wastes and extra water from the blood. Wilms' tumor is a rapidly developing cancer of the kidney most often found in children under four years of age. Cancer that starts in the ureters or the renal pelvis (the part of the kidney that collects urine and drains it to the ureters) is different from renal cell cancer. A malignant tumor is called cancer when these tumor cells gain the propensity to invade tissues and spread locally as well as to distant parts of the body.
When kidney cancer spreads outside the kidney, cancer cells are often found in nearby lymph nodes. It is estimated that if all smokers quit, the appearance of certain kidney cancers would drop by half. Eighty-five percent of all kidney tumors are renal cell carcinomas. Wilms' tumor is a rapidly developing cancer of the kidney most often found in children under four years of age. There are 5 main types of renal cell cancer: clear cell, papillary, chromophobe, collecting duct, and unclassified. Each of these types can be recognized by the way the cells look under a microscope. Kidney cancer seldom causes problems in its early stages. Kidney cancer cells may also spread (metastasize) outside your kidneys to nearby organs as well as to more distant sites in the body. Smokers are far more likely to develop cancer than non-smokers. In the kidney cortex, the vast majority of cancers arise from the cells that line the collecting tubules, more specifically, the proximal tubules.
Causes of Kidney Cancer
The comman causes of Kidney Cancer include the following:
- Genetic.
- Polycystic kidney disease.
- Chronic renal failure.
- Family history of kidney cancer increases a person's risk.
- Hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma.
- Smoking doubles the risk of kidney cancer.
- Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome : This is a disease caused by a gene mutation that increases the chances of renal cell cancer.
- Diuretics (water pills): Drugs that eliminate excess body fluid have been linked to kidney cancer.
- Misusing certain pain medicines, including over-the-counter pain medicines, for a long time.
- Tuberous sclerosis - patients who have this disease are more likely to get renal cell cancer.
Symptoms of Kidney Cancer
Some symptoms related to Kidney Cancer are as follows:
- Gross blood in the urine.
- Flank pain.
- Hydronephrosis.
- Anemia (less frequently).
- Palpable abdominal mass.
- Fatigue, weight loss and anemia.
- Fever that is unrelated to a cold, the flu or other infection.
- Loss of appetite.
- Swelling of ankles and legs.
- High blood pressure (less frequently).
- A lump in the abdomen.
Treatment of Kidney Cancer
Here is list of the methods for treating Kidney Cancer:
- Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
- Nephrectomy, or surgery to remove all or part of the kidney, is the main treatment for renal cell carcinoma, although a combination of treatments can be used.
- Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells, and is also sometimes used to relieve pain when kidney cancer has spread to the bone.
- A procedure called renal artery embolization may be used to help decrease the patient's symptoms.
- Biological therapy is a treatment that uses the body's own immune system to fight cancer.
- Hormone therapy is used in a small number of patients with advanced kidney cancer to try to control the growth of cancer cells.
|
