Kidney Cancer Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Staging

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Kidney Cancer Early Detection,

Diagnosis, and Staging

Know the signs and symptoms of kidney cancer. Find out how kidney cancer is tested

for, diagnosed, and staged.

Detection and Diagnosis

Catching cancer early often allows for more treatment options. Some early cancers may

have signs and symptoms that can be noticed, but that is not always the case.

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Can Kidney Cancer Be Found Early?

Kidney Cancer Signs and Symptoms

Tests for Kidney Cancer

Stages and Outlook (Prognosis)

After a cancer diagnosis, staging provides important information about the extent of

cancer in the body and anticipated response to treatment.

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Kidney Cancer Stages

Survival Rates for Kidney Cancer

Questions to Ask About Kidney Cancer

Here are some questions you can ask your cancer care team to help you better

understand your cancer diagnosis and treatment options.

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Questions to Ask About Kidney Cancer

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American Cancer Society

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Can Kidney Cancer Be Found Early?

Many kidney cancers are found while they are still just in the kidney, but others are

found at a more advanced stage. There are a few reasons for this:

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Sometimes these cancers can grow quite large without causing any pain or other

problems.

Because the kidneys are deep inside the body, small kidney tumors cannot be seen

or felt during a physical exam.

There are no recommended screening tests for kidney cancer for people at average

risk.

For people at average risk of kidney cancer

For people at increased risk of kidney cancer

Genetic counseling and testing for people who might be at increased risk of kidney

cancer

For people at average risk of kidney cancer

Some tests can find some kidney cancers early, but none of these is recommended to

screen for kidney cancer in people at average risk.

A routine urine test (urinalysis), which is sometimes part of a medical checkup, might

find small amounts of blood in the urine of some people with early kidney cancer. But

blood in the urine can also have other causes, including urinary tract or bladder

infections, bladder cancer, and benign (non-cancerous) kidney conditions such as

kidney stones. Sometimes people with kidney cancer don¡¯t have blood in their urine until

the cancer is quite large or has already spread to other parts of the body.

Imaging tests1 such as computed tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance

imaging (MRI) can often find small kidney cancers. But these tests can be time

consuming and expensive. Ultrasound is less expensive and can also detect some early

kidney cancers. But it¡¯s not clear that the benefits of screening for kidney cancer with

any of these tests would outweigh the possible downsides. Another issue with these

types of tests is that they can¡¯t always tell benign tumors from small kidney cancers.

This could mean that a person might need to get other types of tests, such as a biopsy,

even if it turns out they don¡¯t have kidney cancer.

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American Cancer Society

| 1.800.227.2345

____________________________________________________________________________________

Often, kidney cancers are found by accident when imaging tests are done for some

other reason. These cancers usually are not causing pain or other symptoms when they

are found. The survival rate for these kidney cancers is very high because they are

usually found at a very early stage.

For people at increased risk of kidney cancer

People who have certain inherited conditions2 have a higher risk of kidney cancer. This

includes syndromes such as:

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von Hippel-Lindau disease

Hereditary papillary renal carcinoma

Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma

Birt-Hogg-Dub¨¦ syndrome

Paraganglioma-pheochromocytoma syndromes

BAP1 tumor predisposition syndrome

Tuberous sclerosis

Doctors often recommend that people with these types of conditions get regular

physical exams, possibly along with CT, MRI, or ultrasound scans, usually starting when

they are young, to look for kidney tumors (and possibly other types of tumors). Kidney

cancers that are found early this way often can be cured.

Some doctors also recommend that people with kidney diseases treated by long-term

dialysis, who are also at increased risk, have regular tests to look for kidney cancer.

Genetic counseling and testing for people who might be at increased

risk of kidney cancer

It¡¯s important to tell your doctor if any of your family members (blood relatives) have had

kidney cancer, especially at a younger age, or if they have been diagnosed with an

inherited condition linked to this cancer, such as von Hippel-Lindau disease. Your

doctor may recommend that you consider genetic counseling and testing to see if

you have one of these conditions.

Before having genetic tests, it¡¯s important to talk with a genetic counselor so that you

understand what the tests can and can¡¯t tell you, how the tests are done, and what any

results would mean. Genetic tests are used to look for the gene mutations that cause

these inherited conditions, not kidney cancer itself. Your risk may be increased if you

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American Cancer Society

| 1.800.227.2345

____________________________________________________________________________________

have one of these conditions, but it does not mean that you have (or definitely will get)

kidney cancer. For more information on genetic testing, see Genetic Testing for Cancer

Risk3.

Hyperlinks

1. cancer/diagnosis-staging/tests/imaging-tests.html

2. cancer/types/kidney-cancer/causes-risks-prevention/riskfactors.html

3. cancer/understanding-cancer/genes-and-cancer/genomicgenetic-testing.html

References

Choueiri TK, Such B. Hereditary kidney cancer syndromes. UpToDate. 2023. Accessed

at on

December 7, 2023.

Maher ER. Hereditary renal cell carcinoma syndromes: Diagnosis, surveillance and

management. World J Urol. 2018;36:1891-1898.

National Cancer Institute. Physician Data Query (PDQ). Genetics of Renal Cell

Carcinoma¨CHealth Professional Version. 2023. Accessed at

on December 7,

2023.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in

Oncology: Kidney Cancer. V1.2024. Accessed at

on December 7, 2023.

Last Revised: May 1, 2024

Kidney Cancer Signs and Symptoms

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American Cancer Society

| 1.800.227.2345

____________________________________________________________________________________

Early kidney cancers often don¡¯t cause any signs or symptoms, but larger or more

advanced ones might. Some possible signs and symptoms of kidney cancer include:

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Blood in the urine (hematuria)

Low back pain on one side (not caused by injury)

A mass (lump) on the side or lower back

Fever that is not caused by an infection and that doesn¡¯t go away

Fatigue1 (feeling very tired)

Loss of appetite2

Weight loss3

Anemia4 (low red blood cell counts)

These signs and symptoms can be caused by kidney cancer (or another type of

cancer), but more often they are caused by other, benign (non-cancerous) diseases.

For example, blood in the urine is most often caused by a bladder or urinary tract

infection or a kidney stone. Still, if you have any of these symptoms, see a doctor so

that the cause can be found and treated, if needed.

Hyperlinks

1. cancer/managing-cancer/side-effects/fatigue.html

2. cancer/managing-cancer/side-effects/eating-problems/poorappetite.html

3. cancer/managing-cancer/side-effects/eating-problems/weightchanges.html

4. cancer/managing-cancer/side-effects/low-bloodcounts/anemia.html

References

Atkins MB. Clinical manifestations, evaluation, and staging of renal cell carcinoma.

UpToDate. 2023. Accessed at on December 7, 2023.

McNamara MA, Zhang T, Harrison MR, George DJ. Ch 79 - Cancer of the kidney. In:

Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff¡¯s

Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier: 2020.

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