Kidney Cancer

Renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), also referred to as renal cell cancer or renal cell adenocarcinoma, is that the commonest sort of kidney cancer. About 9 out of 10 kidney cancers are renal cell carcinomas. Although RCC usually grows as a single tumor within a kidney, sometimes there are 2 or more tumors in one kidney or even tumors in both kidneys at the same time. There are several subtypes of RCC, based mainly on how the cancer cells look in the lab. Knowing the subtype of RCC are often an element choose treatment and may also help your doctor determine if your cancer could be caused by an inherited genetic syndrome.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma

This is the foremost common sort of renal cell carcinoma. About 7 out of 10 people with RCC have this type of cancer. When seen within the lab, the cells that structure clear cell RCC look very pale or clear.

Non-clear cell renal cell carcinomas

Papillary renal cell carcinoma: This is often the second common subtype – about 1 in 10 RCCs are of this sort. These cancers form little finger-like projections (called papillae) in some, if not most, of the tumor. Some doctors call these cancers chromophilic because the cells absorb certain dyes and appearance pink when checked out under the microscope.

Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: This subtype accounts for about 5% (5 cases in 100) of RCCs. The cells of those cancers also are pale, just like the clear cells, but are much larger and have certain other features which will be recognized when checked out very closely.

Rare types of renal cell carcinoma: These subtypes are very rare, each making up less than 1% of RCCs:

• Collecting duct RCC
• Multilocular cystic RCC
• Medullary carcinoma
• Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma
• Neuroblastoma-associated RCC

Unclassified renal cell carcinoma: Rarely, renal cell cancers are labelled as unclassified because the way they appear doesn’t fit into any of the opposite categories or because there's more than one type of cancer cell present.

A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease like cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. Some risk factors, like smoking, are often changed. Others, like your age or history, can’t be changed.

Scientists have found several risk factors that might cause you to more likely to develop kidney cancer.

• Smoking:Smoking increases the danger of developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The increased risk seems to be related to what proportion you smoke. the danger drops if you stop smoking, but it takes a couple of years to urge to the danger level of someone who never smoked.

• Obesity:People who are very overweight have a far better risk of developing RCC. Obesity may cause changes in certain hormones which can cause RCC.

• Family history of kidney cancer: People with a strong history of renal cell cancer (without one of the known inherited conditions listed below) have a far better chance of developing this cancer. This risk is highest for people that have a brother or sister with cancer. It’s not clear whether this is often thanks to shared genes, something that both people were exposed to within the environment, or both.

• Workplace exposures:Many studies have suggested that workplace exposure to certain substances, like trichloroethylene, increases the danger for RCC.

• Gender:RCC is about twice as common in men as in women. Men are more likely to be smokers and are more likely to be exposed to cancer-causing chemicals at work, which may account for a couple of difference.

• Race:African Americans have a rather higher rate of RCC than do whites. The explanations for this aren't clear.