Kidney tumors can be benign or malignant, with renal cell carcinoma being the most common cancerous type in adults and Wilms tumor affecting children. Risk factors include age, gender, smoking, obesity, exposure to certain chemicals, and high blood pressure. Surgery is the primary treatment for kidney tumors.
A kidney tumor is an abnormal mass that develops in a kidney. The kidney is a bean-shaped organ that functions as part of a person’s urinary system. It helps filter waste and extra fluids from the bloodstream, creating urine, which moves into the bladder and out of the body. People are born with two kidneys.
Kidney tumors form when cells grow excessively within a kidney. Usually, older cells die and are replaced by new cells. When this process goes awry, old cells don’t die and new cells grow when they’re not needed, creating a tumor. When a tumor is benign, it is not cancerous and does not spread to other parts of the body. However, tumors can sometimes impair organ function, so they can be removed by surgery.
Much more serious is a malignant kidney tumor, which is cancerous and can spread to other areas of a person’s body. This is potentially life threatening. Renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma, and Wilms tumor are the most frequently diagnosed cancerous kidney tumors. In adults, renal cell carcinoma develops more frequently. Children are more likely to develop Wilms tumor cancer.
When a person has renal cell carcinoma, the kidney tumors develop in the cells of the kidney’s filtering units, which are called nephrons. Often, cancerous cells in this area grow as a lump in a kidney. However, it is possible for more than one kidney cancer to develop in one kidney, and both kidneys can be affected by cancer at the same time.
Transitional cell carcinoma develops in the lining of the renal pelvis, which is the part of the organ responsible for collecting and draining fluid waste. Sometimes these tumors also form in the ureters, which are narrow tubes that lead to the bladder. In some cases, they even develop in the bladder itself.
Wilms tumors form in the kidneys and can spread to lymph nodes near the kidneys. They can also spread to the liver and lungs. Unfortunately, this type of kidney cancer typically affects children under the age of five.
Although anyone can develop renal cell carcinoma, the risk increases with age and they are more common in those 60 years of age and older. Men are more at risk than women, and smoking and obesity are also risk factors. Those who are exposed to asbestos, cadmium and thiclorothylene may be more at risk, as are those who have been treated for kidney failure in the past. For reasons that aren’t fully understood, those with high blood pressure are also more at risk.
Smoking is also a risk factor for developing transitional cell carcinoma. A person is also more at risk of developing this type of kidney cancer when working with carcinogenic chemicals in the workplace. A drug called phenacetin, which is no longer marketed in the United States, has also been linked to this type of cancer.
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