Renal Cell Carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents 2-3% of all cancers. Learn more about this disease, its diagnosis and treatments.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of kidney cancer can include:
- blood in your urine
- a constant pain in your side, just below the ribs
- lump or swelling in the kidney area (on either side of the body)
See your GP as soon as possible if you experience any of these symptoms.
In around half of all cases of kidney cancer there are no symptoms, and the condition is detected during tests for other unrelated conditions.
Risk factors
Cigarette smoking, obesity and hypertension are well-known risk factors. RCC also appears to be more common in patients on dialysis.
Approximately 2%–3% of all RCCs are hereditary and several autosomal dominant syndromes are described, each with a distinct genetic basis and phenotype.
Incidence
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents 2-3% of all cancers , with the highest incidence occurring in Western countries.
Generally, during the last two decades until recently, there has been an annual increase of about 2% in incidence both worldwide and in Europe, though in Denmark and Sweden a continuing decrease has been observed3 .
In 2012, there were approximately 84,400 new cases of RCC and 34,700 kidney cancer related deaths within the European Union
In Europe, overall mortality rates for RCC have increased up until the early 1990s, with rates generally stabilizing or declining thereafter. There has been a decrease in mortality since the 1980s in Scandinavian countries and since the early 1990s in France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy. However, in some European countries (Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Slovakia), mortality rates still show an upward trend with increasing rates5 .
2–3 %
of all cancers
Many
renal masses remain asymptomatic
Surgery
is the first treatment option
1 Chow WH, Dong LM, Devesa SS. . Epidemiology and risk factors for kidney cancer. Nat Rev Urol 2010; 7: 245–257
2 European Network of Cancer Registries. Eurocim version 4.0. European incidence database V2.3, 730 entity dictionary (2001), Lyon, 2001.
3 Lindblad P. Epidemiology of renal cell carcinoma. Scand J Surg 2004;93(2):88-96 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15285559
4 Ferlay J, Steliarova-Foucher E, Lortet-Tieulent J, et al. Cancer incidence and mortality patterns in Europe: estimates for 40 countries in 2012. Eur J Cancer 2013 Apr;49(6):1374-403. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23485231
5 Levi F, Ferlay J, Galeone C, et al. The changing pattern of kidney cancer incidence and mortality in Europe. BJU Int 2008 Apr;101(8):949-58 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18241251
6 Renal cell carcinoma: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up
7 Guidelines on Renal Cell Carcinoma, European Association of Urology, 2014– Uroweb.org
8 American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/kidney-cancer
9 European Association of Urology. Guidelines for Clear Cell Renal Cancers That Are Resistant to Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor–Targeted Therapy