5 Kidney Cancer Symptoms

Key Takeaways

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer. Other less common types of kidney cancer include urothelial carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma, and Wilms tumor, which is common in children.
Kidney cancer develops when there is an uncontrolled growth of kidney cells due to mutations in the DNA of kidney cells.
Risk factors for kidney cancer include age, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, long-term dialysis, inherited illnesses, and having a family history of kidney cancer.
Blood in your urine is often one of the earliest signs of kidney cancer. This can be followed by back or flank pain, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, fever, and fatigue.
Diagnosing kidney cancers in the early stages can be challenging.
Cancer treatment for kidney cancer can consist of surgery to remove the tumor from the affected kidney, removal of the kidney or part of the kidney, cryoablation, radiofrequency ablation, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy.
You can lower your risk of kidney cancer by quitting smoking if you smoke, maintaining a healthy body weight, and keeping your blood pressure under control.

According to the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society, kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in men and women. Approximately 82,000 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year. This type of cancer is more common in men than in women, and the risk of kidney cancer increases with age. The earlier kidney cancer is detected, the better the outcome. Please continue reading to find out some of the symptoms of kidney cancer.

What is renal cell carcinoma?

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer, accounting for 85% of kidney cancer cases. Other less common types of kidney cancer include urothelial carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma, and Wilms tumor, which is common in children.

Where does kidney cancer usually start?

Kidney cancer develops when there is an uncontrolled growth of kidney cells due to mutations (changes) in the DNA of kidney cells. In renal cell carcinoma, the cancerous cells develop in the tubules, which are the filtration systems of the kidneys. In urothelial carcinoma, kidney cancer begins in the renal pelvis, a kidney area where urine collects.

What are the risk factors for developing kidney cancer?

There are certain risk factors for kidney cancer, including:

Age: Older individuals in their 60s and 70s are more likely to develop kidney cancer. Kidney tumors are rare in people under the age of 45.
Smoking: Smokers are at a higher risk of kidney cancer than nonsmokers.
Obesity: People with an above-normal body weight are at a greater risk of developing kidney cancer than those who are at a healthy weight.
Hypertension: High blood pressure is linked to an increased risk of kidney cancer.
Long-term dialysis: Treatment for kidney failure with long-term dialysis is a risk factor for kidney cancer.
Inherited syndromes: Certain inherited syndromes such as Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome, von Hippel-Lindau disease, tuberous sclerosis complex, familial renal cancer, and hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma raise the risk of developing kidney cancers.
Family history: People whose close family members have had kidney cancer are at higher risk of developing kidney tumors themselves.

What are the early signs of kidney cancer?

Blood in urine, detected on urinalysis, which is a routine urine test, is often one of the earliest signs of kidney cancer. However, many other conditions can lead to the presence of blood in your urine, such as urinary tract infections, kidney stones, bladder infections, and bladder cancer. Also, sometimes, blood in urine is not detected until you have advanced kidney cancer that has spread to nearby lymph nodes and/or other parts of your body.

There are other factors that make the diagnosis of renal cell carcinomas and other types of kidney cancers in the early stages challenging:

Small kidney tumors are difficult to see or feel during a physical exam because the kidneys are located deep inside the body.
Most kidney cancers can grow to a large size without causing any symptoms, such as pain, which would cause a person to seek medical care.
There is no blood test that can definitively diagnose kidney cancer. Also, there are no recommended screening tests for cancers of the urinary system.
While imaging studies like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) scans can find small kidney tumors, they are expensive and are not done routinely. Ultrasound is more widely available, but it is often difficult to tell the difference between cancerous and noncancerous kidney tumors on ultrasound.

For these reasons, kidney cancers are often accidentally discovered during testing for other signs and symptoms or suspicions of kidney disease. When they are diagnosed early, kidney cancers are frequently not associated with complaints of pain or other symptoms.

Doctors can make a diagnosis of kidney cancer based on the results of blood and urine tests and imaging studies. Sometimes, a kidney biopsy is done to look for cancer cells in a sample of tissue.

What are the 5 warning signs of kidney cancer?

Blood in the urine (pink, red, or cola-colored urine)
Persistent back or flank pain
Loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss
Fever
Fatigue

How do doctors treat a kidney tumor?

Cancer treatment for kidney cancer consists of surgery to remove the tumor from the affected kidney. This may consist of a partial nephrectomy, which is the removal of a part of the kidney where abnormal growth is present. This procedure is recommended for small kidney tumors and helps to preserve kidney function and lower the risk of complications in the future. Partial nephrectomy may be the only option if someone has only one remaining kidney.

A radical nephrectomy is the removal of the entire kidney along with other organs, such as the adrenal gland, in some cases. This procedure may be necessary to treat advanced kidney cancer. The surgery can be done as an open procedure, a laparoscopic surgery through smaller incisions, or a surgery done with the assistance of robots.

Non-surgical treatment options may be recommended for small kidney cancers, including cryoablation (freezing cancer cells) or radiofrequency ablation (using heat to kill cancer cells). Other treatments could include targeted therapies to seek out and destroy cancer cells, immunotherapy to help the immune system fight cancer, and chemotherapy medications and/or radiation therapy to kill kidney cancer cells. Clinical trials may be available for new treatments for kidney cancers.

If you have received a diagnosis of kidney cancer, your medical team will develop a treatment plan based on the stage of your disease.

How to prevent kidney cancer?

You can lower your risk of kidney cancer by quitting smoking if you smoke, maintaining a healthy body weight, and keeping your blood pressure under control. Talk to your doctor about medications for high blood pressure if lifestyle measures such as diet and exercise do not control your blood pressure.

If you have a family history of kidney cancer or certain hereditary cancer syndromes, talk to your health care team about genetic counseling and testing.

Make an appointment to see your doctor if you experience signs and symptoms such as persistent back or flank pain, unexplained weight loss, urine pain, or blood in your urine.

References: