Cancer Kidney cancer occurs when cells in the kidneys grow in an abnormal and uncontrolled manner. This is a common form of kidney cancer, but there are others. Kidney cancer is more common in those over the age of 50, but it can develop in anyone.
Both of these organs reside on the bottom right and left ribs of the back. The kidneys are responsible for filtering the blood and excreting the waste products of metabolism as urine.
Red blood cell-forming hormone erythropoietin and blood-pressure-regulating enzyme renin are also produced by the kidneys.
Causes Of Kidney
Cancer Kidney cancer is caused by DNA mutations that alter the cell’s structure and genetic properties. This mutation is what causes kidney cells to multiply rapidly and out of control. Tumors formed from these cells have the potential to metastasize throughout the patient’s body, including the kidneys.
What causes kidney cell DNA to mutate is a mystery. It’s important to note that there’s no single cause of kidney cancer.
- Having hypertension
- Being overweight
- Inheriting a family history of kidney cancer
- Over 50 years old
- Going through long-term treatment for kidney failure, such as dialysis.
- Work in which harmful chemicals like cadmium are present.
- Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome and other congenital disorders
- syndrome Male gender
Types of Kidney Cancer
Kidney cancer can be classified into several subtypes based on the following features:
- Kidney cancer
Adults are more likely to contract this form. Cancer of the kidney develops in the tubular epithelium, which lines the tubes that transport blood and other body fluids throughout the body. - Urothelial carcinoma
Renal pelvis urothelial carcinoma is a subtype of kidney cancer. This kidney cancer is caused by the same cells that cause bladder cancer, so the treatment for the two is essentially identical. - Sarcoma
It’s a kidney cancer that only rarely occurs. Sarcomas typically start in the connective tissue near the kidneys. - Wilm’s tumor
One of the most common types of kidney cancer in children is Wilm’s tumor. In most cases, a diagnosis of this disorder is made before the child turns ten.
Symptoms Of Kidney Cancer
As a rule, patients with early-stage kidney cancer don’t experience any noticeable symptoms. However, if the kidney cancer has progressed to a later stage, the following symptoms may appear:
- Swelling or lumps in the hips and lower back.
- Pain around the lower back and waist.
- Fever that does not subside.
- Profuse sweating at night.
- Weight loss.
- Loss of appetite.
- Pale, weak, and easily tired.
- Bloody urine (hematuria).
Having hemorrhagic uremic syndrome means you have blood in your urine (HUS). This condition is usually harmless, but it can be caused by a urinary tract infection, kidney disease, or even prostate cancer.
Blood in the urine causes a change in color from the usual clear to a reddish or brownish shade. Normal urine should not contain any blood, but it sometimes does during menstruation.
Hematuria can be either visible to the naked eye (as in the case of a gross hematuria) or undetectable (as in the case of a microscopic hematuria). Microscopic hematuria is not readily apparent to the patient. In patients with gross hematuria, the blood in the urine is clearly visible as a reddish or brown hue.
Hematuria typically does not cause any discomfort. However, urinary pain can be caused by a blood clot.
Visit a medical professional immediately if you see blood in your urine.
- Lack of blood (anaemia)
Medically speaking, anemia is a condition characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells or the dysfunction of red blood cells. Patients with anemia look weak and wan because their blood cells are not carrying enough oxygen to their vital organs.
The severity and duration of anemia vary widely. Anemia is a condition characterized by hemoglobin (the red blood cell’s primary component that binds oxygen) levels below normal.
A person is diagnosed as anemic if their hemoglobin levels are below the normal range (14 g/dL for men and 12 g/dL for women). A severe anemia is defined as a hemoglobin level of less than 8 g/dL. The medical term for this is anemia gravis.
Iron supplements, blood transfusions, and even surgical intervention are all viable options for treating anemia.
When to See a Doctor
The majority of people with kidney cancer don’t experience any symptoms in the early stages, as was mentioned above. So, if you’re at risk of developing this disease, it’s important to get your kidneys checked regularly.
If you’re experiencing any of the aforementioned symptoms of kidney cancer, especially if they’re persistent, you should see a doctor immediately. Reduce the risk of potentially fatal complications by getting treatment right away.
Even though you no longer have cancer, you should continue to go in for routine checkups. The disease will be halted before it has a chance to return.
Diagnosis Of Kidney Cancer
A doctor will ask about the patient’s complaints and symptoms, as well as the onset of those symptoms and the patient’s past health, in order to arrive at a diagnosis. The next step is a physical examination to detect the presence of any abdominal or back swelling.
As a further step, the doctor will perform a follow-up examination to double-check the preliminary findings.
These additional exams can be taken as a follow-up:
Stages of Kidney Cancer
The examination is useful for diagnosing kidney cancer and determining how far along the disease process a patient is. Based on how far along in its development it is, kidney cancer can be said to be in one of four stages:
- Stage 1
- Stage 2
- Stage 3
- Stage 4
Kidney Cancer
Treatment Kidney cancer treatment depends on the specifics of the individual case, including the size, location, and stage of the cancer. Medical professionals can choose from a variety of approaches when treating kidney cancer.
Surgery
It is common practice to operate on patients with kidney cancer in order to alleviate their symptoms. If detected early enough, cancer can be treated surgically to remove the tumor. There are two main surgical approaches to treating kidney cancer:
- A partial nephrectomy is a surgical procedure in which a catheter is inserted into the kidney to remove urine. When the ureter becomes blocked, urine cannot pass from the kidneys to the bladder, and this is why a ureteroscopy is necessary.
If the ureter becomes damaged or leaks due to an infection, kidney stone, tumor, or anatomic abnormality, the patient may require a nephrostomy. Nephrostomy is not only useful for its own diagnostic and therapeutic applications, but also as a conduit for other medical procedures.
- Nephrectomy, or radical nephrectomy, is a surgical procedure that removes the kidney in its entirety if there are cancer cells present.
Both open surgery, which necessitates large incisions in the abdomen or back, and laparoscopy, which necessitates only small incisions, can be used to perform the surgical procedure for kidney cancer.
Ablation
Therapy If a patient’s kidney cancer is too advanced for surgery, ablation therapy may be an option. There are actually two methods for implementing this treatment:
- Cryotherapy
Cryotherapy may be used to treat a wide variety of tumor types, including malignant (cancerous), benign (noncancerous), precancerous, and benign (precancerous). It has both external and internal applications. During this procedure, tumor cells are frozen in a special liquid and then killed.
This specialized fluid can either be sprayed onto or wiped onto the tumor, depending on its size and location. Some medical conditions prevent the use of cryotherapy, so the patient should consult with a doctor first.
Cryotherapy for the whole body is another option (WBC). Cryotherapy in this form has shown promise in treating a variety of conditions, including asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and even obesity. No definitive studies have been conducted to prove the efficacy of comprehensive cryotherapy because not enough research has been done on the topic.
- Radiofrequency ablation
Treatments like radiofrequency ablation can kill cancer cells by heating them to fatal temperatures.
Bleeding around the kidneys and damage to the ureters (the tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder) are the most common adverse effects of ablation therapy, but serious complications are rare.
Embolization
If the patient’s condition does not permit surgery due to the advanced stage of cancer, embolization may be an option. The goal of this procedure is to inject a special substance into the renal vein via a catheter in order to cut off or significantly reduce the blood supply to cancer cells in the kidney.
Kidney cancer cells can be starved to death by cutting off their oxygen supply.
Radiotherapy
The cancer cells are killed by the high-energy X-rays used in radiotherapy. External radiotherapy is a form of radiation therapy in which the patient’s kidneys are targeted from the outside of their body.
Radiation therapy can alleviate some of the discomfort associated with kidney cancer and even slow the disease’s progression, but it cannot cure the disease.
If the disease has spread to other organs, this technique is employed. However, radiotherapy is not without its drawbacks, and can cause things like fatigue, diarrhea, or skin discoloration in the treated area.
Targeted Therapy Targeted
Medications are given to patients in order to combat the disease. Kidney cancer that has progressed beyond the point where conventional treatments can help is typically the target of this method of treatment. This treatment allows for the administration of the following medications:
- Sunitinib
As an enzyme that promotes the expansion of cancer cells, protein kinase is a prime target for this medication, which blocks its activity to halt the disease’s progression. Sunitinib can be taken orally as a capsule. - Pazopanib
A key mechanism of action for this medication is its ability to inhibit tyrosine kinase, an enzyme that promotes the growth of cancer cells. Tablets of pazopanib can be obtained. - Sorafenib
This medication inhibits the growth of new blood vessels, which cancer cells require for reproduction. - Everolimus and Temsirolimus
These two medications work by preventing the growth of cancer cells by blocking the activity of a protein called MTOR.
Complications Of Kidney
Cancer Ignoring kidney cancer can lead to serious consequences. Among these difficulties are:
-
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- High levels of calcium in the blood
- Disorders of the liver or spleen
- Cancer cells that spread
- Increased erythrocyte
Alert High Erythrocytes Causes Health Problems
When a person’s blood contains an abnormally large number of red blood cells, a condition known as “high erythrocytes” exists in his or her body. If this condition isn’t treated right away, it can cause a variety of potentially fatal complications.
Red blood cells, also known as erythrocytes, are responsible for transporting oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Hemoglobin-rich red blood cells are made in the bone marrow. Problems arise when either too many or too few red blood cells are present in the body.
Both age and gender play a role in determining what constitutes a “normal” number of red blood cells in the body. Adult males typically have an erythrocyte count between 4.3 and 5.6 million per microliter (mcl), while adult females’ normal range is between 3.9 and 5.1 mcl.
A blood test or a complete blood count can reveal your erythrocyte count. The normal range for erythrocyte counts varies from lab to lab.
Causes of High Erythrocytes
Despite their role as oxygen carriers in the body, high levels of erythrocytes are not associated with improved health. The overproduction of erythrocytes, or polycythemia, can be either essential or secondary.
Primary polycythemia
The majority of cases of elevated erythrocyte count can be traced back to genetic disorders or other hereditary factors. In cases of primary polycythemia, the bone marrow also produces an increased number of white blood cells and platelets. All blood cell counts are abnormally high in polycythemia vera.
Secondary
polycythemia An overabundance of red blood cells is the result of secondary polycythemia, which is caused by a variety of conditions and diseases such as:
- Dehydration. Red blood cell count drops, leading to anemia and an overall rise in blood volume.
- Pulmonary diseases include conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pulmonary fibrosis.
- Adult congenital heart defects and heart disease are the most common types of heart problems.
- Cancerous tumors are a leading cause of death worldwide, and they affect a wide range of body systems. Polycythemia vera is a secondary complication of leukemia.
- Diseases affecting hemoglobin include thalassemia, methemoglobinemia, and sickle cell anemia.
- Sleep apnea.
- Drug reactions can occur after receiving injections of erythropoietin, which can stimulate the production of red blood cells; after receiving testosterone hormone therapy; after receiving the antibiotic gentamicin; after receiving methyldopa; and after receiving a dose of the drug levodopa, which can cause drowsiness.
Besides the aforementioned causes, elevated erythrocyte counts can also occur in people who regularly engage in mountain activities or who are heavy smokers.
Increased erythrocyte counts may or may not cause symptoms in and of themselves. Dizziness, headache, visual disturbances, and nosebleeds are common, but other symptoms include itching and easy bruising.
Handling High Erythrocytes
Complications such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), stroke, heart attack, and pulmonary embolism are possible if high erythrocytes are not treated. Those with higher erythrocyte counts are consequently more likely to bleed than those with lower counts.
Before treating patients for elevated erythrocyte counts, doctors need to determine the underlying cause.
After the root cause of high erythrocytes is determined, the doctor can prescribe medication like interferon, aspirin, and hydroxycarbamide to lower the RBC count and prevent blood vessel clogging.
One way to lower elevated erythrocyte counts is to give blood. An average of 500 cc of blood is drawn during this process, and it can be repeated as often as the doctor sees fit.
Counting a person’s erythrocyte count is a medical procedure that requires a visit to the doctor. If your doctor notices that your erythrocyte count is too high, he or she will figure out what’s best for you to do.
Prevention Of Kidney Cancer
Because its exact origin remains unknown, kidney cancer prevention is currently impossible. Improving one’s diet and exercise habits is the most effective way to lower one’s risk of developing kidney cancer.
Examples of actions to take are:
- Maintaining blood pressure.
- Maintaining an ideal body weight.
- Increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables.
- Exercising regularly.
- Wearing protective gear when working around potentially dangerous substances.
