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What is Kidney Cancer?
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Kidney cancer - also known as renal cancer - is relatively uncommon, accounting for only two percent of all adult cancers. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 31,000 people are diagnosed annually with primary kidney cancer in the United States. (Cancer that has spread to the kidneys from other sites is called secondary kidney cancer.) When caught early, kidney cancer is very treatable. For early-stage cancer, surgery alone may offer a complete cure.
The kidneys are a pair of large, kidney-bean-shaped organs, situated to the right and left of the backbone, just above the waist. Each kidney functions independently of the other. The kidneys are primarily responsible for filtering impurities (such as metabolic waste products), and excess sodium and water from the blood, and processing them into urine. Urine leaves the kidneys through a collection area known as the renal pelvis, and then trickles into the bladder via the ureters (slender tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder). After temporary storage, urine exits the bladder through the urethra. The kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra together comprise the urinary tract.
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Each kidney contains more than a million complex, microscopic filtering units known as nephrons, which contain tiny tubules that remove waste products from the blood. The most common form of primary kidney cancer - renal-cortical cancer - arises in the lining of these tubules. More than 90 percent of kidney cancers are of the renal-cortical type. The less common form of kidney cancer - transitional-cell cancer - originates in the renal pelvis area of the kidneys.
The treatment of kidney cancer has been revolutionized by the advent of innovative surgical options, including partial nephrectomy (kidney-sparing surgery) and minimally invasive laparoscopic approaches. If left untreated, however, kidney cancer can metastasize - or spread - to nearby lymph nodes and to distant organs. Once the cancer has metastasized, it is extremely difficult to treat.
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