According to the National Cancer Institute, there were 49,096 new cases and 11,033 deaths from kidney cancer in 2009. Kidney cancers are included in the top ten most frequent types of cancer. Between 1999 to 2006, the five-year survival rates for localized kidney cancer was 90.3 percent. However, this plummets to 10.6 percent if the cancer has spread. These numbers are important because symptoms are often not apparent until later stages of the disease.
Hematuria
Blood in urine is called hematuria. Patients with advanced kidney cancer often experience tea or cola-colored urine. This symptom is common to many kidney diseases and bladder infections, so doctors do not consider it a reliable indicator of kidney cancer.
Doctors measure hematuria by looking at the patient's urine. They use a simple paper indicator similar to pH paper, or count the number of red blood cells that appear in a microscopic field.
Weight Loss and Fever
Patients with advanced disease often have inexplicable weight loss. Wasting and loss of muscle mass is called cachexia. These patients also spike fevers for no apparent reason.
These symptoms are common to most metastatic cancers that have spread to distant sites and are not a specific indicator of kidney cancer. "A Cancer Journal for Physicians" states that the prevalence of cachexia increases from 50 percent to more than 80 percent before death.
Masses and Pain
Some patients with advanced disease can also feel masses or lumps on one side or on their lower back. Patients with cachexia are more likely to feel these masses because fat does not obscure the lump. In some instances, the patient's lower back hurts. In other instances, the pain may be located in distant regions of the body where the cancer has spread.
Fatigue
Patients with advanced kidney disease are often just plain bone-tired. As with other cancers, the fatigue can be overwhelming.
