What is kidney cancer?
Kidney cancer is a malignant tumor that involves the uncontrolled spread of cancer cells in the renal tubes. It is a disorder that mainly affects adults over 50 years of age and usually men.
There are different types of kidney cancer:
- Renal cell carcinoma
- Transitional cell carcinoma
- Sarcoma
- Wilms’ tumor
- Lymphoma
Kidney cancer is a malignant tumor that involves the uncontrolled spread of cancer cells in the renal tubes.
What are the symptoms?
The main symptoms of kidney cancer are:
- Blood in the urine
- Pain or pressure in the side or back
- A lump or mass in the side or back
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Anemia
- High blood pressure
- Swelling in the ankles and legs
- Recurrent fever
However, most kidney tumors are asymptomatic and are usually detected randomly from an x-ray test performed for other reasons.
Causes of kidney cancer or why it occurs
The most frequent risk factors that influence the development of kidney cancer are:
- Smoking
- Black race. Black people have higher rates of kidney cancer.
- Obesity, eating a diet high in fat.
- High blood pressure
- Cadmium exposure
- Abuse of certain medications
- Having chronic kidney disease
- Long-term dialysis
- Family history of kidney cancer
Can it be prevented?
Reducing some risk factors can help prevent kidney cancer, such as:
- Quitting smoking
- Lowering blood pressure
- Maintaining a healthy body weight
- Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in fat.
What does the treatment consist of?
This is a cancer that, if detected in time, can be cured, since, thanks to the fact that human beings can live with only one kidney, the malignant organ can be removed to stop the tumor. But, when metastasis (spread of the tumor to other organs) is detected, other specific treatments must be performed to stop the spread of the cancer cells.