Name of the medical condition and other names that it’s been known by

• Kidney Cancer

• The most common type of kidney cancer is known as "renal cell carcinoma" (RCC)

• Renal cell cancer

• Renal cell adenocarcinoma

 

What is Kidney Cancer?

Kidney cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the kidneys, which are two bean-shaped organs located behind your abdominal organs, with one kidney on each side of your spine. The kidneys' main job is to filter excess water, salt, and waste products from your blood, turning those substances into urine.

 

Kidney cancer starts when cells in the kidney begin to grow uncontrollably, forming a mass called a tumor. The most common type of kidney cancer in adults is renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which accounts for about 90% of all kidney cancers. RCC usually grows as a single tumor within a kidney, but sometimes multiple tumors can develop in one or both kidneys.

 

There are several subtypes of RCC, including:

• Clear cell RCC: The most common form, making up about 70-80% of RCC cases. The cells appear very pale or clear under a microscope.

• Papillary RCC: Accounts for about 10-15% of RCC cases and forms finger-like projections.

• Chromophobe RCC: Makes up about 5% of RCC cases, with cells that appear larger and have prominent borders.

• Other less common types of kidney cancer include transitional cell carcinoma, Wilms' tumor (more common in children), and renal sarcoma.

 

Trend

• In the United States, approximately 79,000 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed each year.

• Over the past five years, it is estimated that around 395,000 people in the US have been diagnosed with kidney cancer, considering the annual incidence rate.

• The number of kidney cancer cases is expected to rise slightly over the next five years due to the aging population and better diagnostic techniques like CT scans, which can detect cancers early.

 

History

People have known about kidney cancer for a long time, but how doctors find and treat it has changed a lot over the years.

 

In the past, the main way to treat kidney cancer was to take out the whole kidney through surgery. Now, thanks to better medical tools, doctors can do surgeries that are less harmful to the body. They can sometimes remove just the tumor and leave the rest of the kidney in place.

 

Scientists have also found out that there are different types of kidney cancer. This has helped doctors come up with new ways to treat it. Some new treatments can target specific types of kidney cancer, which helps patients get better more often.

 

In recent years, more people have been told they have kidney cancer. This is partly because doctors now use special machines like CT scanners to find small tumors that might have been missed before. While this means more cases are found, doctors can catch the cancer earlier, which helps more people survive.

 

Source of Information

• American Cancer Society

• Mayo Clinic

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

• UCLA Health

 

For informational purposes only. Consult a medical professional for advice.