Key points:
- Headache, abdominal pain, and bleeding when urinating can be some of the symptoms of kidney cancer.
- Approximately 40% of diagnoses happen incidentally, due to tests performed for other reasons.
- In the early stages, surgical treatment is used to remove kidney tumors.
Both men and women can be affected by kidney cancer, which cannot be prevented, but if detected in its early stages can be cured, says Dr. José Huante Pérez, urologist oncologist specializing in robotic surgery at ABC Medical Center.
Among the main risk factors for kidney cancer are smoking, obesity, and high blood pressure. When smoking, many of the substances you inhale are carcinogenic and not only damage your lungs but also reach the urinary tract through the blood and could trigger this disease.
“Most people with kidney cancer are of old age. The average age of people when diagnosed with this cancer is 64 years, although most are diagnosed between 65 and 74 years. Kidney cancer is very rare in people under 45 years old.”1
A person who is developing early-stage kidney cancer may not have any noticeable symptoms, says Dr. Huante, but when it is an advanced stage and takes over other organs such as the bones, lungs, liver, or brain it may present the following symptoms:
- Abdominal pain
- Headache
- Blood in the urine
- Among others
As a consequence of the lack of symptoms in the initial stage, approximately 40% of kidney cancer is diagnosed incidentally, that is, as a result of imaging studies performed for another cause.
Therefore, to avoid detecting kidney cancer in an advanced stage, it is advisable to include recurrent tests based on your age and health condition, these include imaging and lab tests.
Dr. Huante says that the type of treatment for kidney cancer will depend on the clinical stage in which it is found. In the early stages, the vast majority of patients can benefit from surgical treatment that allows the complete removal of kidney tumors, without the need to remove the kidney. For more advanced stages, each case should be analyzed, seeking to find the best treatment for each patient.
At ABC Medical Center’s Cancer Center, we can provide you with specialized care. Contact us!
Fuente:
Dr. José Huante Pérez – urologist oncologist specializing in robotic surgery at ABC Medical Center.
https://youtu.be/WXJ6ca0PP3U
1 https://www.cancer.org/es/cancer/tipos/cancer-de-rinon/acerca/estadisticas-clave.html
