Kidney Cancer

Kidney cancer is a malignant tumour developed from the kidney cells. Malignant kidney tumours account for 1-2% of malignant cancers in adults. Men are affected twice as often as women. The cause of kidney cancer is unknown, however, some genetic factors and damages of the kidney cell DNA caused by e.g. cigarette smoking or environmental factors are taken into consideration.

I started my kidney cancer journey back in December 0f 2006, and it's a journey I wouldn't wish on others because real anxiety is hard to manage. For me I've been "lucky" I guess in that any turmoil on my part has been less physiological and more psychological. Yes I had a rather hideous radical nephrectomy back in March 2007, but there was far less pain than I'd anticipated, and I was far more concerned about the diagnosis of cancer than I was about any pain or dying on an operating table or being invalided in some way.

Wilms tumor and other kidney tumors are diseases in which malignant (cancer) cells are located in the kidney. In Wilms tumor, one or more tumors can be discovered in one or both kidneys. Wilms tumor is the most general type of childhood kidney cancer. It is unlike from adult kidney cancer and needs dissimilar treatment.

Kidney cancer or renal carcinoma usually occurs in older people and accounts for about 2 to 3% of cancers in adults, affecting about twice as many men as women. In adults, the most common type of kidney tumor is renal cell carcinoma, which begins in the cells that line the small tubes within your kidneys. Kidney cancer rarely strikes children and young adults; the exceptions are a pediatric kidney cancer called Wilms tumor and some forms of hereditary kidney cancer syndromes, such as von Hippel-Lindau disease.

Unfortunately, kidney cancer does not present early symptoms. It is usually discovered from blood in the urine, a palpable lump in the abdomen, swelling, weight loss or pain. The five-year survival rate of patients with a metastasized condition is 0 to 5%. If not discovered in time, it can lead to kidney failure and other diseases within the body.

Kidney is used for vital functions like filtering of blood and removing impurities in them, removal of surplus water, minerals and other salts. Kidney cancer is defined as a type of cancer that is developed in kidney.