Cancer of the kidney - Introduction

Cancer of the kidney is a relatively common type of cancer. Symptoms of kidney cancer include:

• blood in your urine
• constant pain below your ribs
• a lump in your abdomen (tummy)

However, in around half of cases there are no symptoms and the cancer is detected during tests for other unrelated conditions.

The kidneys

The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located on either side of the body, just underneath the ribcage. The main role of the kidneys is to filter out waste products from the blood and produce urine. Usually, only one of the kidneys is affected by cancer.

Types of kidney cancer

There are a number of different types of cancer than can affect the kidneys. The most common type is known as renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which accounts for about 90% of all kidney cancers.

Rarer types of kidney cancer include:

• transitional cell cancer: develops in the lining of the kidneys and usually affects older men who are 50 years of age or over
• Wilms tumour: a rare type of kidney cancer that affects children

This article focuses on renal cell carcinoma and the term kidney cancer will be used to refer to RCC. See the Cancer Research UK website for more information about transitional cell cancer and Wilms tumour.

How common is kidney cancer?

Kidney cancer accounts for about 2-3% of all adult cancers, making it the seventh most common cancer in men and the ninth most common cancer in woman.

Cancer of the kidney most commonly affects adults aged 50-80 years, with 64 being the average age of diagnosis. Men are more likely to be affected by kidney cancer than women.

Risk factors for kidney cancer include:

• smoking
• obesity
• high blood pressure (hypertension)
• certain genetic conditions, such as tuberous sclerosis

See causes of kidney cancer for more information about these risk factors.

Over the last 40 years, the number of cases of kidney cancer has doubled in men and risen by 130% in women. The main reason for this rise is thought to be the corresponding increase in the number of people who are obese.

There were 3638 new cases diagnosed in men and 2118 new cases diagnosed in woman during 2007 in England.

Outlook

The outlook for kidney cancer is usually good if the condition is diagnosed in its early stages, when the cancer is still contained inside the kidney. This is because it is usually possible to completely cure the cancer by removing some or all of the kidney (it is possible to live a healthy life with only one kidney). About one in three cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed at an early stage.

Depending on how aggressive the cancer is, 70-94% of people will live at least five years after receiving a diagnosis of kidney cancer, with many people living much longer.

The outlook for kidney cancer that has spread outside the kidney is less favourable. An estimated 40-70% of people with this type of kidney cancer will live at least five years after receiving a diagnosis.