Kidney Cancer-No Kidding Around
July 17, 2008
What is kidney cancer and what is it caused by?
Kidney cancer is a cancer that begins in the kidneys and spread throughout the body and weakens the vital organs. There are several types of cancers that begin in the kidneys including renal cell cancer and transitional cell carcinoma, which both begins in the inner lining of the kidneys.
There are several factors causing kidney cancers and they include smoking large quantities of cigarettes, which greatly increases one’s risk of getting liver cancer. Obese people are also at risk for kidney cancer, since their livers have to work harder to process toxins than people who are of normal size.
People who are on long term dialysis systems are also at risk for kidney cancer since dialysis is used to clean waste from the blood, which slowly weakens the vital organs in the process. Also people who are at risk for kidney cancer are those who have the VHL disease, a rare disease that causes cysts in the eyes, brains and other parts of the body, those who have heavily demanding physical jobs and men are more likely to get kidney cancer than women.
What are the symptoms of kidney cancer?
The symptoms of kidney cancer are a mix of blood in urine when one is urinating, pain on the side of a person’s body that will not go away, a person who has lumps on the side of their abdomen, a person suffering unnatural weight loss, a person, suffering from high fever and a person who is feeling tired all the time.
How does a person find out whether if they have kidney cancer or not?
People who think that they may have kidney cancer can use methods like, physical exams, urine and blood tests, CT scans, ultrasound tests and biopsies to diagnose the disease.
What are the stages of kidney cancer?
There are four stages of this type of cancer and the first stage is when the tumors on the kidney measures up to 2 ¾ inches and the cancer cells are only located in the kidneys. The second stage of this cancer is when the tumors measure more than 2 ¾ inches and the cancer cells are still found in the kidneys. The third stage of the cancer occurs when the cancer has passed through the lymph nodes, but the tumor is still present in the kidneys and stage four of kidney cancer is when both the tumors and the cancer have passed the lymph nodes and are spread all over the body, which will eventually lead to the shutdown of the major organs and death.
How can kidney cancer be treated and prevented?
There are several options for those who want to seek treatment for kidney cancer and some of those treatments are available through surgery, radiation therapy, biological therapy and chemotherapy. It is always best to get a second opinion as to being diagnosed with this cancer or any other cancer and if the illness is not cancer but another health issue, seek treatment for that and if the diagnosis stand corrected, then weigh your options as to how to treat this deadly illness. The sooner is definitely the better to get treatment.




























