Cancer ribbon colors: Chart and guide
Understanding Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer -- also called renal cell cancer -- is a disease in which kidney cells become malignant (cancerous) and grow out of control, forming a tumor. Almost all kidney cancers first appear in the lining of tiny tubes (tubules) in the kidney. This type of kidney cancer is called renal cell carcinoma. The good news is that most kidney cancers are found before they spread (metastasize) to distant organs. And cancers caught early are easier to treat successfully. However, these tumors can grow to be quite large before they are detected.
The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They lie in your abdomen on each side of your spine. Their main job is to clean your blood, removing waste products and making urine.
Doctors don't know the causes of kidney cancer. But certain factors appear to increase the risk of getting kidney cancer. For example, kidney cancer occurs most often in people older than age 40. These are some other risk factors for kidney cancer:
Having these risk factors does not mean you will get kidney cancer. And it's also true that you can have none of them and still get the disease.
In many cases, people may have no early symptoms of kidney cancer. As the tumor grows larger, symptoms may appear. You may have one or more of these kidney cancer symptoms:
Kidney cancer that spreads to other parts of your body may cause other symptoms, such as:
Maybe you've had kidney cancer symptoms such as pain in your side, weight loss, or extreme fatigue. Or maybe your doctor has found a lump in your side during a routine exam or a sign of kidney cancer during a test for another disease. Regardless, to confirm a diagnosis of kidney cancer, you will need a thorough physical exam, health history, and tests.
Your doctor will feel your abdomen and side for lumps and check for fever and high blood pressure, among other things. You will also answer questions about your health habits, any past illnesses, and types of treatment. To make a diagnosis of kidney cancer, your doctor will also order one or more tests like these:
Unlike with many other cancers, your doctor may be pretty certain about a diagnosis of kidney cancer without a biopsy. Sometimes, a biopsy will be done to confirm the diagnosis. A doctor may use a needle biopsy to remove a sample of tissue, which is then examined under a microscope for cancer cells. The biopsy may also tell the grade of the cancer -- how aggressive the cancer is likely to be. Often the surgeon will simply remove the entire tumor and then have a sample of tissue examined.
Once your doctor makes a diagnosis of kidney cancer, you may need other tests to tell if the cancer has spread within your kidney, to the other kidney, or to other parts of your body. When cancer spreads from the place where it first started, it has metastasized. You might need a CT scan or MRI. A chest X-ray can show whether the cancer has spread to your lungs. A bone scan can see if it is in your bones. These tests will help your doctor determine the stage of kidney cancer.
Your prognosis depends on your general health, as well as the grade and stage of your kidney cancer.
These are the stages of kidney cancer. The higher the stage, the more advanced the cancer.
Stage I
Stage II
Stage III
Stage IV
Once you have a diagnosis and know your stage of kidney cancer, you and your doctor can plan treatment. You may want to gather information to help you feel more informed about your decision. Your doctor may refer you to a specialist for treatment. This could include an urologist, a medical or radiation oncologist, or a surgeon. Before beginning treatment, many people find it helpful to get a second opinion about the diagnosis of kidney cancer and the treatment plan.
Kidney cancer is one of the more common cancers to undergo spontaneous regression, in which it may return to an earlier stage. However, the incidence is quite low (up to about 1% of people with metastatic renal cell carcinoma might see regression).
There are several standard types of treatment for kidney cancer. In most cases, surgery is the first step. Even if surgery removes the entire tumor, though, your doctor may suggest an extra treatment to kill any remaining cancer cells that can't be seen.
Surgery for kidney cancer
These are the main types of surgery for kidney cancer. Which type you have depends on how advanced your cancer is.
You can survive with just a part of one kidney as long as it is still working. If the surgeon removes both kidneys or if both kidneys are not working, you will need a machine to clean your blood (dialysis) or a new kidney (kidney transplant). A transplant is possible if your cancer was found only in your kidney and a donated kidney is available.
If surgery can't remove your kidney cancer, your doctor may suggest another option to help destroy the tumor.
Biologic therapy for kidney cancer
This therapy uses your immune system to fight cancer by boosting, directing, or restoring your body's natural defenses. Substances for biologic therapy are made by your body or in a lab. Examples of biologic therapy for metastatic kidney cancer include interferon alpha or interleukin-2. There are many new immunotherapies being actively studied for kidney cancer. Each of these treatments has a unique place in the management of advanced kidney cancer.
Targeted therapy for kidney cancer
This therapy uses drugs or other substances to find and target cancer cells with less toxicity to normal cells.
Anti-angiogenic agents. One type of targeted therapy is anti-angiogenic agents. These keep blood vessels from feeding a tumor, causing it to shrink or stop growing.
Multikinase inhibitors or tyrosine kinase inhibitors. These inhibitors are another type of targeted agent. They are oral drugs that block an enzyme pathway which allows cancer cells to grow.
m-TOR inhibitors. M-TOR inhibitors are available as an oral medication and as an IV. They block a pathway which allows blood vessels to help tumor cells grow.
HIF inhibitors. This type of targeted therapy is used in people who have kidney cancer that doesn't immediately require surgery (such as those who have von Hippel-Lindau disease) and in people who have advanced kidney cancer who were previously treated with another targeted drug therapy. HIF inhibitors work by blocking the activity of a protein known as hypoxia-inducible factor 2 alpha, which causes cancer cell growth.
Ways to combine HIF inhibitors with immune checkpoint inhibitors (a type of immunotherapy drug) for treatment are currently being conducted.
Radiation therapy for kidney cancer
This treatment is not typically a first-line treatment for kidney cancer. Radiation therapy is used in people who can't or don't want to have surgery or if cancer comes back after being treated.
It uses high-energy rays, similar to X-rays but much stronger, to kill cancer cells or halt their growth. External radiation therapy sends radiation to the cancer from a machine outside the body.
Chemotherapy for kidney cancer
Chemotherapy is mostly used for certain less common types of kidney cancer such as renal medullary carcinoma or collecting duct renal cell carcinoma. More common types of kidney cancer usually don't respond well to chemotherapy and are typically treated with immunotherapy and targeted drugs.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells or stop them from multiplying.
Because doctors don't know the causes of kidney cancer, it is not clear how to prevent the disease. However, certain factors are linked to kidney cancer, so you can take certain steps to lower your risk -- quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight, manage your blood pressure, and avoid being exposed to harmful chemicals.
Mom Receives Shocking Stage 3 Colon Cancer Diagnosis At 25 — Hours Before It Nearly Turned Fatal
A mom was told she had a stomach bug — but a scary episode of vomiting a "cigarette tar"-like substance led to a cancer diagnosis, sepsis, and emergency surgery.
Chloe Wakelin was 25 when she began experiencing stomach flu-like symptoms in 2023 — but as a daycare worker and the mom of a 6-year-old, she assumed she'd picked up a bug from one of the kids.
When the symptoms — bloating, nausea, fatigue — persisted, she visited her doctor. After tests for Crohn's Disease and irritable bowel syndrome came back negative, her doctor said it was, indeed, just a stomach bug, Wakelin told Kennedy News and Media via The Daily Mail.
Wakelin, who hails from the English town of Rochdale, says her symptoms were easy to dismiss because "I didn't have the 'typical' symptoms for bowel cancer," which the Mayo Clinic says include bloody stool and weight loss.
Chloe Wakelin rests in the hospital after stage 3 bowel cancer diagnosis.Kennedy News and Media
Her condition deteriorated in December of 2023, when she threw up something she described as "like cigarette tar." She visited the hospital, but says she wasn't given any tests until she returned a month later — this time, when her skin began "turning yellow."
Jaundice — yellowing of the skin and eyes — is a visible sign that something is wrong with the liver, so Wakelin says she was finally given a scan. That's when doctors discovered a tumor in her colon, and realized she had already developed sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body responds improperly to an infection.
She was told she needed to have a portion of her bowel removed immediately.
"I was told that if I didn't have the surgery, I would have had 12 hours to live because my kidney and my liver were failing," she said. Doctors removed 25 cm of her bowel, along with her lymph nodes, due to the cancer's spread. She was fitted with a stoma in her stomach, which provides an external way for waste to leave the body, where it's collected in an ostomy bag.
Chloe Wakelin shows off her ostomy bag following bowel cancer surgery.Kennedy News and Media
"Waking up in recovery, I remember feeling my stomach. It just felt like everything had crumbled around me," Wakelin told the outlet.
"You always think you're too young at 25 because it's typically a cancer that affects older people," Wakelin says, adding that she's sharing her story to help raise awareness of colon cancer in young people.
Rates of colon cancer diagnoses — and deaths from the disease — have steadily increased in people under 50, the American Cancer Society has said.
"I'd just like to remind everyone to not be ashamed to go to their GP about any symptoms they may be having, no matter your age," Wakelin said. "It can affect anyone."
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Renal Cell Carcinoma
It's the most common type of kidney cancer. Although it's a serious disease, finding and treating it early makes it more likely that you'll be cured. No matter when you're diagnosed, you can do certain things to ease your symptoms and feel better during your treatment.
Most people who have renal cell carcinoma are older, usually between ages 50 and 70. It often starts as just one tumor in a kidney, but sometimes it begins as several tumors, or it's found in both kidneys at once. You might also hear it called renal cell cancer.
Doctors have different ways to treat renal cell carcinoma, and scientists are testing new ones, too. You'll want to learn as much about your disease as you can and work with your doctor so you can choose the best treatment.
Scientists aren't sure exactly what causes renal cell carcinoma. They know that most kidney cancers start when something goes wrong in the genes in the kidney. No one can say for certain why that happens.
Several things can raise your chances of getting the disease, like:
Early on, renal cell carcinoma doesn't usually cause any symptoms. As the disease gets more serious, you might have warning signs like:
Your doctor will want to find out more about your symptoms to figure out what's going on. First, they'll give you a physical exam and ask you questions like:
From there, they'll do some tests that could include:
If the results show that you have renal cell carcinoma, your doctor will find out what stage it's in, so you can decide on the best treatment options. The stage of cancer depends on how large your tumor is and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body. You may have tests to take a closer look inside your chest and belly, like:
There are a few different ways doctors can treat renal cell carcinoma. You may need to try several before finding one that works. The best plan for you depends on the stage of your cancer, how healthy you are overall, and any side effects you might have. Your options may include:
Many kinds of cancer are treated with radiation or chemotherapy, or sometimes both. These treatments usually don't work well for renal cell carcinoma. In some cases, your doctor may still prescribe them to ease your symptoms or if other treatments haven't worked. Talk with them about these options and how they might make you feel.
Scientists also are looking for new ways to treat renal cell carcinoma in clinical trials. These trials test new drugs to see if they're safe and if they work. They often are a way for people to try new medicine that isn't available to everyone. Your doctor can tell you if one of these trials might be a good fit for you.
It's important to treat your disease, but also to make sure you're comfortable. Tell your doctor if you're feeling any pain. They can give you medicines to ease your symptoms.
You can do things during and after your treatment to feel stronger physically and emotionally.
Your outlook depends on the stage of your disease. The earlier you find and treat renal cell carcinoma, the better your progress will be. Treatment helps many people fight the cancer, and you have several good options to ease pain and other symptoms.
To get more information on renal cell carcinoma, visit the web site of the American Cancer Society.
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