Patients and Caregivers Registered Medical Practitioners
Safety Information Privacy Notice Cookie Policy Terms of Use Contact Us
What are the symptoms of renal cell carcinoma? Read More
How is renal cell carcinoma treated? Read More
What is targeted therapy for kidney cancer? Read More
Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Advanced Non-Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Recurrent Glioblastoma Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Advanced Cervical Cancer Ovarian Cancer Metastatic Breast Cancer
scroll down

Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Overview

What is renal cell carcinoma?

Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancers, accounting for about 90% of all cases.

Kidneys are a pair of bean-shaped organs, about the size of a fist, attached to the upper wall of the abdomen, protected by the rib cage. The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys.

Cancer arising in the kidney is called ‘Renal cancer’, which is the 9th and 14th most common cancers in men and women, respectively. The incidence is found to be generally more common in men than in women. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a cancer that originates in the inner lining of tubules which carry urine, accounts for about 90% of all renal cancers. About 4 million new cases of renal cancer have been reported in the year 2018. Renal cancer usually grows as a single tumour, but at times, two or more tumours may also be found. This type of cancer is uncommon in people younger than 45 years of age. RCC is reported predominantly in the sixth and eigth decade of life with median age at diagnosis around 64 years of age. Metastatic renal cell carcinoma refers to the advanced stage of the disease, when it would have spread to other parts of the body.

Abbreviations

CT/CAT scan: Computed Tomography scan MRI scan: Magnetic resonance imaging scan mTOR: mechanistic target of rapamycin IVP: Intravenous pyelogram RCC: Renal cell carcinoma RFA: Radiofrequency ablation TNM: Tumor, node, metastasis staging system VEGF: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor VHL: Von Hippel-Lindau disease

References

  1. Bray, F., Ferlay, J., Soerjomataram, I., Siegel, R. L., Torre, L. A., & Jemal, A. (2018). Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 68(6), 394-424. doi:10.3322/caac.21492
  2. Mahdavifar N., Mohammadian M., Ghoncheh M., Salehiniya H. (2018) Incidence, mortality and risk factors of kidney cancer in the world WCRJ, 5 (1): e1013
  3. American Cancer Society, What is Kidney Cancer? Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/kidney-cancer/about/what-is-kidney-cancer.html Accessed on 21-01-2019
  4. Image source: American Cancer Society, Anatomy of the kidney, Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/kidney-cancer/about/what-is-kidney-cancer.html Accessed on 21-01-2019
  5. D. Pascual and A. Borque, “Epidemiology of Kidney Cancer,” Advances in Urology, vol. 2008, Article ID 782381, 7 pages, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1155/2008/782381.
  6. American Cancer Society, Kidney Cancer Signs and Symptoms, Available at: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/kidney-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/signs-and-symptoms.html Accessed on 21-01-2019
  7. American Society of Clinical Oncology, Kidney Cancer: Diagnosis, Available at: https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/kidney-cancer/diagnosis Accessed on 21-01-2019
  8. Amin, M. B., Edge, S. B., Greene, F. L., Byrd, D. R., Brookland, R. K., Washington, M. K., Gershenwald, J. E., Compton, C. C., Hess, K. R., Sullivan, D. C., Jessup, J. M., Brierley, J. D., Gaspar, L. E., Schilsky, R. L., Balch, C. M., Winchester, D. P., Asare, E. A., Madera, M., Gress, D. M., & Meyer, L. R. (2018). AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. Basingstoke, England: Springer.
  9. American Society for Clinical Oncology, Kidney Cancer: Types of treatment, Available at: https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/kidney-cancer/types-treatment Accessed on 24-01-2019