Things You Need To Know About Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer is a type of cancer that effects your kidneys, which are located behind your stomach, in your lower back just below your ribs. There are two common types of kidney cancer. One is the renal cell carcinoma and the other is the renal pelvis carcinoma. Most cancers that originate in the renal tubule are renal cell carcinoma and cell adenocarcinoma while those that originate from the renal pelvis are transitional cell carcinoma. Other less common types include squamous cell carcinoma, renal oncocytoma and mesoblastic nephroma.
One common symptom of kidney cancer is palpable mass in the abdomen, hematuria and hydronephrosis. The mass is first felt in the anterior lumbar region, between the margins of the ribs and then grows to the umbilicus and then up to the hypochondrium. Where the cases are extreme, the mass fills the entire belly. The location of the colon furnishes an important diagnostic mark of all types of kidney cancers.
Sometimes cancer in the kidney may be secondary, the result of metastasis. This is spreading from a primary cancer source elsewhere in the body to the kidney. There are certain types of kidney cancer that have a known hereditary risk. Worldwide, North America leads in the number of people diagnosed with kidney cancer every year.
Fewer cases have been reported in Asia and Africa. In the United Kingdom, cancer of the kidney is the eighth most common cancer in men. In Europe, kidney cancer accounts for nearly 3% of all cancer cases. It is the fourteenth most common cancer in women worldwide. Wilms’ tumors are most kidney cancers reported in children followed by congenital mesoblastic nephroma. Surgery is a standard treatment for kidney cancer. It’s aim is to surgically remove the tumour, usually along with the kidney and lymph nodes containing the tumour, and, if possible, surgically remove single metastases if they occur.