Renal cancer
Adults — Kidney cancer tends to occur after age 50 and strikes men twice as often as women. The most common type occurs in the renal (kidney) tissue that filters the blood and produces the urine and is called renal cell cancer (or renal cell carcinoma). Another type of adult kidney tumor arises in the renal pelvis where the urine collects and is called transitional cell carcinoma. The most frequent diagnostic sign of kidney cancer in adults is blood in the urine.
Children — Far and away the main type of kidney cancer in children is Wilms tumor. It starts to develop in fetal life and may be large by the time it is detected (on the average at 3 years of age). Wilms tumor is associated with certain congenital defects including urinary tract abnormalities, absence of the iris (aniridia) and hemihypertrophy (enlargement of one side of the body), and shows an increased incidence among siblings and twins. The tumor tends to cause a noticeable mass and sometimes pain in the abdomen. Blood in the urine occurs in a minority of cases.
Kidney cancer is treated with surgery, embolization, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, biological therapy, or chemotherapy.
Read Also:
- Renal capsule
The fibrous connective tissue that surrounds each kidney.
- Renal cell cancer
Cancer that develops in the lining of the renal tubules, which filter the blood and produce urine. Also called renal cell carcinoma.
- Renal cell carcinoma
Cancer that develops in the lining of the renal tubules, which filter the blood and produce the urine. Also called renal cell cancer.
- Renal Fanconi syndrome
Failure of the tubules in the kidney to reabsorb small molecules, causing increased urinary loss of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, bicarbonate), minerals, glucose, amino acids, and water. These losses results in polyuria (excessive urination), polydipsia (excessive intake of fluid), dehydration (from the excess urination) hypophosphatemic rickets (due to loss of phosphate in the urine), and growth […]
- Renal osteodystrophy
A bone disorder that adversely affects bone growth and is caused by chronic kidney failure (renal disease). Osteo?dystrophy can require treatment with vitamin D. Also known as kidney osteodystrophy.