Kidney Cancer
Around 7,800 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year in the UK. This cancer generally affects those over 40 although. Kidney cancer seems to affect more men than women in the UK and the risk of developing this cancer increases with age.
There are two main types of kidney cancer:
• Renal cell cancers (RCC) or renal adenocarcinomas – there are subgroups within this type of kidney cancer which are identified when studied by microscope
• Transitional cell cancers (TCC) – these types of kidney cancers are less common
Things to look out for
Kidney cancer often does not present symptoms and is increasingly diagnosed through scans for unrelated medical reasons.
However kidney cancer can become symptomatic; some of these symptoms include:
• Continuously high temperature, weight loss, increased sweating during the night and fatigue (tiredness)
• A subdued pain in your side
• Spasms in the bladder or uterus which tend to be painful and are a result of blood clots
• Passing blood in urine – this may be a sporadic symptom which may happen often or from time to time. This may not be visible to the eye and may only be detected by a urine test. However if you do ever notice blood in your urine, even if it is sporadic, you should see your consultant/doctor straight away
• A lump around the kidney area
What treatments are available?
The treatments for kidney cancer are:
• Surgery
• Chemotherapy
• Biological therapy (targeted therapy)
• Interventional Oncology procedure such as percutaneous ablation and embolization.
You may have one of these treatments, or a combination. The type or combination of treatments you have will depend on how the cancer was diagnosed and the stage it's at.
The consultant diagnostic and interventional radiologists at Christie Oncology Imaging will be able to provide diagnostic CT, PET/CT and MRI scans which will help to diagnose, stage monitor kidney cancer response to surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We also provide US/CT guided biopsy to obtain tissue samples which will help to tailor chemotherapy and other treatments to specific tumour characteristics. We may be able to offer an interventional oncology procedure such as percutaneous ablation and embolization.
More information available:
http://www.thechristieprivatecare.com/cancers-we-treat/kidney-cancer/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/kidney-cancer/