Renal cell carcinoma is a punch in of kidney cancer.
Risk factors include smoking, obesity, toxin exposure, and a family history of renal cell cancer.
The noticeable effects of renal cell carcinoma typically begin as the cancer reaches an advanced stage.
Illustration by Verywell
Once a diagnosis is made, treatment may involve surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.
The first symptoms of renal cell carcinoma can vary.
You may experience some of the effects, but you are unlikely to experience all of them.
Impaired Kidney Function
With renal cell carcinoma, your kidney function can be impaired.
This may occur if the tumor produces hormones or other substances that affect distant parts of the body.
Paraneoplastic effects can occur even while the tumor is very small.
What Causes Renal Cell Cancer?
Renal cells are a punch in of cell in the kidneys.
Renal cell carcinoma usually involves only one kidney, but it can affect both kidneys.
Thekidneysare organs that balance fluids and chemicals in the body.
Your kidneys filter your blood to remove waste material.
They produce urine, which contains the wastes that your body doesnt need.
There are a number of risk factors associated with renal cell carcinoma.
Smoking and exposure to toxic chemicals are considered the leading causes of this punch in of cancer.
Toxin Exposure
Experts suggest that certain chemicals are nephrotoxicmeaning they damage the kidneys.
Chemicals such as industrial materials and pesticides can harm the kidneys.
It may take months of toxin exposure before renal cell carcinoma develops.
It can enlarge within the kidney and grow into the adrenal glands, which are adjacent to the kidneys.
Adrenal glands are small organs that make and release hormones.
Each kidney has one adrenal gland located right above it.
Renal Cell Carcinoma Diagnosis
Often, renal cell carcinoma is identified on an imaging test.
It can be seen before any symptoms occur (when a test is done for another medical reason).
Your physical examination will include an abdominal examination, which can identify tenderness or enlargement of your kidneys.
Your medical team will check your blood pressure.
Your healthcare providers may order a complete blood count (CBC) or electrolyte levels.
These tests often give your medical team an idea about your overall health.
If you have anemia or erythrocytosis, your CBC will show an altered red blood cell count.
The fluid sample can be analyzed with a microscopic evaluation.
Kidney failure may cause a change in the concentration of electrolytes in your urine.
Additionally, other illnesses can be diagnosed with a UA.
Diabetes often results in excess glucose in the urine.
Kidney or bladder infections often cause an increase in white blood cells.
The infectious organisms that cause these infections can often be identified in the urine as well.
Abone scancan be used to identify lesions in the bones.
Biopsy
You may need to have a biopsy of your kidney.
The tumor stage describes how far the tumor has grown or spread in the body.
Renal Cell Carcinoma Tumor Stages
Treatment
There are anumber of treatmentsused for renal cell carcinoma.
Additionally, you receive symptomatic treatment that helps relieve the effects of your tumor.
Surgery
You may need to have your tumor removed from your kidney or haveyour whole kidney removed.
Surgery may also be used to remove metastatic lesions from elsewhere in your body.
If both kidneys are damaged or removed, however, you would need to have dialysis.
Dialysisis a procedure that involves filtration of your blood so that waste material can be removed from your body.
Radiation
Radiation therapy is a treatment that uses powerful rays to destroy tumor cells.
Depending on your situation, you might have radiation therapy before or after surgical resection of your tumor.
Adjuvant therapies help keep cancer from returning.
All of these medications are powerful, and they may produce serious side effects during your treatment and recovery.
For example, you may receive a blood transfusion if your red blood cells are extremely low.
You may be given anti-hypertensive medication to manage your blood pressure.
Imaging tests, lab analyses, and biopsies are typically involved in its diagnosis.
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