Renal Cell Cancer Health Video

Video Transcript

JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. My name is Dr. Justin Davis, and today I would like to speak with you a little bit about kidney cancer, also called renal cell cancer. Renal refers to the medical term that we call kidneys. Kidneys are two kidney bean-shaped organs that we have located behind our other organs in our abdomen. Kidneys are very important for many different reasons, but one of the main functions they do is process the blood, take out some of the waste which you then pee out as your urine. Well, just like with any organ in the body, sometimes kidneys also develop cancer. In fact, every year in the United States, about 51,000 cases of new kidney cancer are diagnosed. Kidney cancer can occur in both adults and children. It is more common in adults, and the most common kind of kidney cancer in adults is called renal cell carcinoma. In children, the most common kind of kidney cancer is called Wilms' tumor. This is much less common. The symptoms of kidney cancer are variable depending on where exactly the cancer is located and how advanced it is. Probably the most common symptom is blood in the urine. When it is more advanced, you may actually see the blood, but often in early stages of kidney cancer, you may not see the blood and it is called microscopic blood in the urine. This is when the blood can only be detected by special tests or in a microscope. Other symptoms can be pain in the back that just simply does not go away or perhaps swollen lymph nodes or if the kidney cancer has spread to other organs, then you may have other problems from those other organs being affected. So what do we do to treat and to prevent kidney cancer? Well, again, it depends upon exactly what kind of kidney cancer it is and how advanced it is and where it is occurring exactly. The most common treatments will be a combination of surgery, radiation treatment, and chemotherapy as well. It is important to discuss this with your doctor or oncologist so they may come up with a good plan for treating your kidney cancer. As far as prevention goes, well we do not always know what causes most cancers, so it can be a little bit difficult to prevent, but we do know that having a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle certainly goes a long way at preventing kidney cancer as well as most other cancers. There is also an association with cigarette smoke and so it is important to avoid smoking for many reasons, but certainly to avoid cancer such as kidney cancer and other cancers. Also, certain environmental toxins will be processed by your kidneys and these may be toxic to the kidney cells and also be more likely to cause kidney cancer. So, what can you do to try to avoid this or what should you do? Well, if you notice that there is blood in your urine you should always tell your doctor. Most often, it is not going to be renal cell or kidney cancer, but it may be something else that needs to be evaluated and treated. It is also important to have your yearly physical checkups with your doctor, because we usually screen your urine and we may pick up blood in the urine, which you would not normally see with the naked eye, and this could be an indication of kidney cancer or some other problem that needs to be caught and treated early.