Kidney Cancer Specialists

What is Kidney Cancer?

Kidney cancer, also called renal cancer, is abnormal cell growth that occurs in your kidneys. The two most common types of kidney cancer are:

• Renal Cell Carcinoma: Renal cell carcinoma is the foremost cause of kidney cancer in adults. It develops in the tiny tubes within the kidney.
• Transitional Cell Carcinoma: Transitional cell carcinoma causes around 15% of kidney cancers in adults. It forms in your renal pelvis, where urine collects before it goes from the kidneys to the bladder.

Causes of kidney cancer include:

• Smoking
• Obesity
• Chronic high blood pressure
• Overuse of certain pain medicines
• Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome
• Tuberous sclerosis
• Family history of kidney cancer

Kidney cancer is rare in people under 45, and most people are around 64 when they get kidney cancer. It affects more men than women. Kidney cancer is in the top 10 of the leading kinds of cancer in the United States, but if diagnosed and treated early enough, survival rates are high.

What are the Symptoms of Kidney Cancer?

Most often, you won’t experience any symptoms when you first develop kidney cancer. If you do start developing symptoms, they might include:

• Blood in the urine
• A lump in your abdomen
• Loss of appetite
• Unexpected weight loss
• Anemia
• Fatigue

You might also start to get persistent pain in your side, abdomen, or back. If kidney cancer spreads outside the kidneys, you may experience other symptoms. For example, metastasized kidney cancer can show up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath and coughing up blood.

How is Kidney Cancer Treated?

The personalized treatment plan your urologist at Associated Urologists of North Carolina creates for you takes into account factors like your age, your medical history and current health, the type of kidney cancer you have, and how far advanced it is.

Low-grade kidney cancer is less aggressive and less likely to metastasize. High-grade kidney cancer grows faster and spreads more readily. Some of your treatment options might include:

• Renal Tumor Ablation: Tumor ablation involves either freezing or heating the tumor to destroy it as an alternative to surgery.
• Targeted Therapy: Targeted therapy blocks the growth of proteins and new blood vessels that cancer cells need, and this therapy can also shrink tumors.
• Immunotherapy or Biologic Therapy: Immunotherapy uses substances called interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha, which are cytokines. They boost your immune system to help your body fight kidney cancer.
• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses potent drugs to stop cancer cells from growing. However, in the case of kidney cancer, the cells are often resistant, so chemotherapy isn’t a standard treatment.
• Radiation Therapy: Radiation doesn’t cure kidney cancer but can help alleviate the symptoms, particularly if the cancer has metastasized.
• Surgery to Remove the Tumor: this can be done by an open incision or laparoscopy and robotics. Talk to urologist if a kidney sparing surgery can be performed.

   

  To view a kidney sparing robotic surgery, please see below:

If you’re concerned about kidney cancer, call Associated Urologists of North Carolina today.