Stages Of Kidney Cancer
- Stage I: The tumor is 7 cm across or smaller and is only in the kidney. It has not spread to lymph nodes or other tissue. .
- Stage II: The tumor is larger than 7 cm across but is still only in the kidney. It has not spread to lymph nodes or other tissue.
- Stage III: The tumor has spread to the major blood vessels the renal vein and inferior vena cava or into the tissue surrounding the kidney, or to nearby lymph nodes.
- Stage IV: The tumor has spread outside of the kidney to the adrenal gland , or to distant lymph nodes, or to other organs.
Tumors are also graded, which is a way of rating a tumor based on how abnormal its cells look. Tumor grading can also tell the doctor how fast the tumor is likely to grow. Tumors whose cells do not look like normal cells and divide rapidly are called high-grade tumors. High-grade tumors tend to grow and spread more quickly than low-grade tumors.
Next Steps After Finding A Spot On The Lungs
A pulmonary nodule may be first detected on a chest X-ray. After that, you may need further testing to better characterize the nodule to help determine if its benign or cancerous.
Your doctor may request your medical history and your history of smoking. Additionally, your doctor needs to know if youve been exposed to secondhand smoke or environmental chemicals.
The first step of the process is examining the size and shape of the nodule. The bigger the nodule, and the more irregular the shape, the greater the risk of it being cancerous.
A CT scan can provide a clear image of the nodule and give more information about the shape, size, and location. If the results from a CT scan reveal that a nodule is small and smooth, your doctor may monitor the nodule over time to see if it changes in size or shape.
Youll have to repeat the CT scan a few times at regular intervals. If the nodule doesnt grow larger or change over a 2-year period, its unlikely to be cancer.
In addition to a CT scan, your doctor may order a tuberculin skin test or more commonly an interferon gamma release assay to check for latent tuberculosis.
They may also request that your blood be drawn for additional tests to rule out other causes such as local fungal infections. These may include coccidioidomycosis in the southwestern states like California and Arizona or histoplasmosis in the central and eastern states, especially in areas around the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.
What Is An Angiomyolipoma
Angiomyolipoma or AML for short, is a benign tumor that arises in the kidney. AMLs can bleed and while not cancerous are still taken very seriously. “Angio” indicates blood vessels, “myo” indicates muscle, and “lipoma” indicates fat. Thus, an AML is a tumor that contains these 3 components. If one sees fat within the tumor on imaging, it is virtually diagnostic of this entity. Since they are benign, AMLs can be observed in some patients. If they are > 4cm in size they are usually treated. Treatment involves surgical resection or selective embolization. Embolization is a procedure where the blood vessels feeding the AML are blocked without surgery. This procedure shrinks the tumor and eliminates thus minimizing the risk of bleeding. “Who gets AMLS?” AMLs are most common in females between the ages of 40-60. Additionally, about 50% of patients with a syndrome called Tuberous Sclerosis will have AMLs. Tuberous Sclerosis is a genetic disease associated with seizures, mental retardation, and a skin condition called adenoma sebaceum.
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Report Problems With Your Medications To The Fda
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Causes Of Spots On The Liver
Imaging studies of the liver, including ultrasound, CT and MRI scans, allow doctors to visualize the structure and texture of the organ. The liver normally has a uniform appearance on imaging scans. A spot on the liver describes an area that appears different from the majority of the liver tissue. Infections, inflammatory reactions and various types of noncancerous and cancerous tumors can appear as spots on the liver. Additional tests help identify the underlying cause of a spot seen on a liver imaging study.
If you are experiencing serious medical symptoms, seek emergency treatment immediately.
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What Causes Kidney Cysts
If your kidney cysts are caused by PKD, then they are inherited. This means you have them because they run in your family. For most people, though, this is not the case. Doctors arent sure why kidney cysts form for them. It could be that the kidney surface weakens over time. This could explain why kidney cysts are most common in people who are age 50 and older.
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Kidney Tumors & Diagnosis Size Mattersbig Surprise
Kidney cancer is generally a very silent disease. It is sneaky, hides out for years, and is often assumed to be something else. In my case, my doctor essentially decided I was just a menopausal women with the ever-popular stress as a an extra. The stress of carrying about a 10 cm tumor and wasting away was probably part of it.
That slow diagnosis, often delayed for years is far too typical. Only the greater use of CT scans has been significant in finding kidney cancer at an early stage. And just what is early or small? Looking for a cracked rib, or the dislocated shoulder has often revealed kidney cancer, and in the case of the shoulder, lung mets. And then the hunt is on! By the time this diagnosis is made, nearly 30-40% of kidney cancer is already metastatic.
The classic triad of symptoms, are 1) blood in the urine, 2) flank pain, and 3) palpable mass in the abdomen. There are doctors who will consider kidney cancer only when the patient has these three symptoms, but that happens in fewer than 10% of patients. The cancer has to be pretty far along to be found this way. Meeting a pair of new doctors who were aware of my kidney cancer, they were obviously bewildered to hear that I had had none of the these symptoms. But those are the usual symptoms, one said. Maybe classical, but not usual. Unfortunately that expectation is a barrier to good diagnosis.
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What You Need To Know
About Kidney Masses
- Many masses may never need to be removed though evaluation by a qualified physician is the only way to determine this
- Complex cysts may require further testing
- Solid masses, especially those that pick up blood are considered malignant until otherwise proven
- Typically, we follow masses under 2.5cm for further growth before treating
Causes
- The causes of kidney masses are many and varied
Treatment
What Are The Causes Of Kidney Lesions
Kidney lesions are commonly caused by cancers, infections, or nephrosis. These lesions are defined as areas of the kidney where anomalous tissues exist. Whether or not the lesions are cancerous or benign, they may be a serious condition and require attention. Symptoms of kidney lesions may include swelling due to water retention, blood in the urine, and lower back pain. A majority of people, however, do not experience any outward symptoms until lesions have been present for a long time, if at all.
Possible causes of kidney spots or kidney lesions are chronic infections, which lead to damage or scarring. This results in the obstruction of the kidneys drainage system and interferes with normal function. Similarly, a kidney spot could be due to inflammation, surgery or any irregularities in kidney-related activities.
Renal cell carcinoma, or hypernephroma, is a common kidney cancer in which lesions and other cancerous cells develop in the tubes of the kidney. These lesions can multiply, grow, and spread until the person feels intense discomfort. If the cancer is detected at an early stage, surgery and other treatments can be deployed to combat it. Unfortunately, this cancer may go without symptoms and remain completely undetected for months or even years and is sometimes only found when its too late.
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Should I Get A Biopsy
A question that we hear all the time. There is a theoretical risk of bleeding or spreading the cancer with a biopsy, but this not why they are not widely used.
Unlike prostate, breast, or colon biopsies it turns out that biopsies of small kidney tumors are not as accurate as we would like.
As many as 20% of the biopsies are false negatives- in other words the biopsy says there is no cancer when indeed there is a cancer.
We still use them sometimes but it has to be in the right patient. Recent innovations in how we do the biopsies has allowed us to get more information than ever before. It remains, however, that a biopsy should only be obtained after a discussion with an expert on this disease!
Treatment options for patients with a small kidney tumor including active surveillance, ablation, partial nephrectomy, and total nephrectomy. In the vast majority of patients treatment of a small kidney tumor should result in saving the kidney. A quick decision to remove the kidney may not be the best treatment. Experience is critical in being able to save the kidney. In our section regarding treatment one can find details regarding these options.
At Johns Hopkins our surgeons are experts on all approaches and will help tailor the treatment to the patient. One size does NOT fit all.
Tests For Kidney Cancer
Your doctor may do some tests to check for kidney cancer:
- urine tests for signs of kidney cancer
- blood tests to check your general health.
Your doctor might ask you to have further tests. These are some the tests you may have:
- ultrasound a scan on the outside of your abdomen to check for cancer
- CT scan a scan that takes pictures of the inside of the body
- MRI scan a scan that uses magnetism and radio waves to take pictures of the inside of the body
- bone scan a scan that uses dye to show changes in your bones
- cystoscopy the doctor puts a small camera into your bladder to see inside
- biopsy the doctor takes a small sample of the cells from the kidney to check for signs of cancer.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer, also known as renal cell carcinoma , is one of the 10 most common cancers in people. Doctors most commonly diagnose this cancer in people over 60 years old, often after finding it by accident during routine imaging tests.
The kidneys are two bean-shaped, fist-sized organs under the back of your rib cage. They help:
- filter waste from your blood
- create urine
- control blood pressure
- create red blood cells
Your body can function normally with only one kidney. But a tumor growing in one of your kidneys can disrupt its normal functions.
Most symptoms of kidney cancer have to do with kidney function and tumor growth, but these symptoms often dont appear in the early stages.
When symptoms do appear, they tend to show up in places like your urine or lower back.
What Causes Kidney Malfunction
A major culprit of kidney problems is an acidic diet . A brand-new study sheds light on the renal problems that can be caused by a high-acid, meat-rich diet.
The study followed 1,500 people with kidney disease for a period of 14 years. Participants who ate a diet high in meat came very close to experiencing complete kidney failure, while those who ate more fruits and vegetables did not even come close to kidney failure. Researchers estimate that an acidic diet can make it three times more likely for your kidneys to fail.1
Says lead study author Dr. Tanushree Banejee,
Patients with chronic kidney disease may want to pay more attention to diet consumption of acid rich foods to reduce progression to kidney failuredialysis treatmentsmay be avoided by adopting a more healthy diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables.1
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Sexuality And Kidney Cancer
Having kidney cancer and treatment can change the way you feel about yourself, other people and sex. These changes can be very upsetting and hard to talk about. Doctors and nurses are very understanding and can give you some support. You can ask for a referral to a doctor or therapist who specialises in body image, sex and relationships.
Why Wait Until Your Kidneys Are Diseased
While the study was conducted on people with kidney disease, we could safely extrapolate the recommendations to those who want to avoid kidney disease and achieve optimal kidney function now, especially as we age.
In fact, additional research points to the actuality of physiological changes in the kidneys as we age. The research notes that a progressive reduction of the glomerular filtration rate and renal blood flow are observed in conjunction with aging. The reason for these phenomena is a decrease in the plasma flow in the glomerulus, a bundle of capillaries that partially form the renal corpuscle.2
In addition, the aging kidneys experience other structural changes, such as a loss of renal mass, and decreased responsiveness to stimuli that constrict or dilate blood vessels. The study concludes with a notable summation:
age-related changes in cardiovascular hemodynamics, such as reduced cardiac output and systemic hypertension, are likely to play a role in reducing renal perfusion and filtration. Finally, it is hypothesized that increases in cellular oxidative stress that accompany aging result in endothelial cell dysfunction and changes in vasoactive mediators resulting in increased atherosclerosis, hypertension and glomerulosclerosis.2
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What Are The Treatments For Kidney Cancer
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 eralier stage. However, the incidence is quite low .
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 cant 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 or a new kidney . A transplant is possible if your cancer was found only in your kidney and a donated kidney is available.
If surgery cant remove your kidney cancer, your doctor may suggest another option to help destroy the tumor.
Biologic therapy for kidney cancer
What Are The Symptoms And Complications Of Simple Kidney Cysts
As people age, simple kidney cysts tend to grow bigger and grow in number. However, simple kidney cysts usually dont cause symptoms or additional health problems.
In rare cases, simple kidney cysts can become large enough to
- press on your bones or other organs, causing pain or discomfort
- block blood or urine flow through the kidneys or the ureters
- become infected, causing fever, pain, and tenderness
- burst, causing pain or blood in the urine, also called hematuria
Talk with your health care professional if you have any of these symptoms. Health care professionals can treat simple kidney cysts that cause symptoms or other health problems.
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