Dating Tech Food Home Humor Travel Style

Kidney Cancer: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment Options

78 views views


	(4)


	(4)


	(0)


	(0)

Kidney Cancer Institute

Like any of the body's organs, the kidney can develop cancer. Approximately 32,000 cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed in the United States alone each year, and approximately 11,000 people a year die of kidney cancer in the United States. The disease is more common in men and is most common in the sixth and seventh decades of life.

"Kidney cancer" is not a disease per se, but rather is a group of cancers that arise form different parts of the kidney tubules. Kidney cancers were divided into the following subtypes: Common or conventional renal cell carcinoma, papillary renal cell carcinoma, chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, collecting duct carcinoma (including medullary carcinoma), and renal cell carcinoma, which cannot be classified. An expert panel also classified benign kidney growths such as metanephric adenoma, metanephric adenofibroma, and renal oncocytoma.

Another system used to quantify the aggressiveness of kidney cancer is grading. By looking at the cells that make up a cancer, the cells are divided into low grade tumors which are less aggressive and higher grade tumors which are more aggressive. The Fuhrman classification was originally designed for conventional kidney cancers but is often used to grade all different kidney cancer varieties. Tumors are graded from I to IV with the lower grade tumors being less aggressive. Just as with the different subtypes, different grades have different outcomes.

Kidney cancer can present with a variety of different signs and symptoms, which are listed below. None of these signs or symptoms are specific to kidney cancer itself. Indeed, kidney cancer is not the most common disease associated with the majority of these symptoms. Today, the majority of kidney cancers are discovered while very small in size and typically will have no associated symptoms.

Signs and Symptoms Associated with Kidney Cancer:

Blood in urine ("hematuria")
Pain in the back just below the ribs
A mass that can be felt
Unexplained weight loss which can sometimes be rapid
Intermittent fevers or night sweats
Fatigue and lethargy
Fever that is not associated with a cold or the flu
Pain in other parts of the body if the cancer has spread

It has long been known that for each different type of cancer there are distinct risk factors. These factors do not assure that an individual will have cancer, but increase the chances of developing the cancer. The mechanism by which the majority of these risk factors result in cancer is not always known, but epidemiological studies do allow physicians to identify factors which are associated with each different type of cancer.

In the past, the majority of kidney cancers were identified due to symptoms. These characteristic symptoms are still seen in a minority of people who present with larger kidney cancers.

However, today, the majority of kidney cancers are "incidental findings." The term incidental finding simply means that the kidney tumor, which is usually small in diameter, was found during the evaluation of a separate process. Often, a sonogram will be ordered for a non-specific complaint and a kidney mass will be identified.

Today, the reason that the majority of kidney tumors are discovered while still very small in size is the increased use of radiologic tests. These tests have become important in identifying kidney masses as well as in determining if the mass is suspicious for kidney cancer. Unfortunately, with contemporary radiographic technology, it remains impossible to determine if the mass is truly a kidney cancer as opposed to some other non-cancerous growth in the kidney.

Depending on the size of the mass, the probability of kidney cancer can be estimated. Smaller kidney masses can be benign growths 30-40% of the time. In contrast, larger kidney growths are more commonly kidney cancer (over 90%). Naturally, it would seem that a small procedure like a biopsy to take a small sample of the kidney mass tissue would be prudent. However, biopsy is not usually indicated for several reasons.

Kidney Cancer - Treatment Options

Active surveillance is also known as watchful waiting or observation and this is the least invasive treatment strategy for kidney cancer. The term "active surveillance" is preferred as it is most accurate regarding this process.

Cryoablation and radiofrequency ablation are the two techniques by which kidney tumors can be ablated today. The concept of ablation is relatively new in cancer surgery for any disease. Traditionally, surgeons have treated cancer by literally cutting it out. This is a process known as extirpation. In contrast to this approach, ablation is a different concept in that cold energy or heat energy is used to destroy the cancerous tissue at the exact site where it exists in the body. Ablation has been used for many cancers including lung, liver, and prostate. However, the technology is particularly well suited to kidney cancer.

Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy uses a minimally invasive approach (laparoscopy) to perform exactly the same procedure that is done in open partial nephrectomy. In any partial nephrectomy (open or laparoscopic), the kidney cancer is removed with a small amount of normal tissue around it. The normal tissue around the cancer that is removed is known as the margin, and this tissue serves to assure that no cancer is left in the body. The term "negative margin" means that the entire kidney cancer has been removed completely.

Open partial nephrectomy is defined as a removal of a portion of the kidney to achieve total removal of the entire tumor.

Laparoscopic radical nephrectomy uses a minimally invasive approach (laparoscopy) to perform exactly the same procedure that is done in open radical nephrectomy. In any radical nephrectomy (open or laparoscopic) the entire kidney including the kidney cancer is removed. The operation involves removal of the kidney along with the fat around the kidney. All of this tissue is contained in a leathery layer known as Gerota's fascia. If the kidney cancer is quite large and near the adrenal gland which is adjacent to the kidney, the operation can include removal of the adrenal gland as well. The operation also often includes removal of the lymph nodes which are around the kidney.

Open radical nephrectomy is defined as removal of the entire kidney with surrounding fat and adrenal gland via an open flank or abdominal incision.

Laparoscopic cytoreductive radical nephrectomy is the exact same operation as a laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. However, the laparoscopic cytoreductive nephrectomy is done in the setting of kidney cancer that has extended outside of the kidney and its surrounding tissues. The extent of the cancer may be limited to tissues in the area around the kidney known as the lymph nodes, or the kidney cancer may have more extensively spread to other organs such as the lung or liver.

Open cytoreductive nephrectomy is the exact same operation as an open radical nephrectomy. However, the open cytoreductive nephrectomy is done in the setting of kidney cancer that has extended outside of the kidney and its surrounding tissues. The extent of the cancer may be limited to tissues in the area around the kidney known as the lymph nodes, or the kidney cancer may have more extensively spread to other organs such as the lung or liver.

Some larger kidney cancers are associated with a growth pattern in which part of the tumor (known as a tumor thrombus) grows into the renal vein. This type of growth pattern occurs in 5-7% of patients with kidney cancer, and growth pattern requires a unique operation to safely remove the entire kidney cancer. The operation is the same as an open radical nephrectomy, but it also involves the surgeon opening the main vein inside the abdomen (which is known as the vena caval) to remove the tumor thrombus that has clogged this vein.

Kidney Cancer Institute: Complementary Management Systems

There are some proven and unproven Holistic therapies that seem to be effective for Cancer. There has been, however, no study showing the effectiveness of complementary therapies specifically for Kidney cancer at this time. First, allow us to provide some simple definitions of what complementary, integrative and Holistic medicine is.

Complementary medicine refers to non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical techniques, which are used in conjunction with medical treatments such as drugs and surgery. The term implies that conventional medicine is used as a primary tool and the non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical techniques are used as a supplement when needed.

Holistic medicine is a system of medicine, which considers the human body as an integrated whole, or as a functioning unit. Holistic medicine emphasizes the study of all aspects of a person's health, including physical, psychological, social, economic, nutritional, and environmental factors.

Integrative medicine is the practice of combining alternative, complementary and conventional therapies to take advantage of the strengths of each system and to offset their weaknesses.

Did you like this?


	(4)


	(4)


	(0)


	(0)

Tags: None, yet. Be the first to add one!

Published Feb. 18, 2008
Edit
Check this out! I selected this just for you from SpongeFish! <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.spongefish.com/creations/4976-Kidney-Cancer-Signs-Symptoms-and-Treatment-Options/steps/1">Kidney Cancer: Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment Options</a> <br /> <br /> (http://www.spongefish.com/creations/4976-Kidney-Cancer-Signs-Symptoms-and-Treatment-Options/steps/1)
Email This
Stop Following This

Follow This
Remove Flag

Flag as Inappropriate