What Is Renal Cell Carcinoma?

Renal cell carcinoma (renal cancer for short) is a highly malignant tumor in the urinary system and one of the most common tumors. It is a malignant tumor that originates from the renal parenchymal urinary epithelial system, also known as renal adenocarcinoma, which accounts for renal malignant tumors. 80% to 90%. According to surveys, kidney cancer accounts for the second place in China's urogenital tumors, second only to bladder tumors, accounting for 2% to 3% of adult malignancies, and about 20% of malignant tumors in children. There is a significant difference in the incidence of men and women. According to statistics, the ratio of men and women is 2: 1. The incidence of kidney cancer increases with age. Some data show that the high incidence of kidney cancer is 40 to 55 years old. In addition, there is a clear international difference in the incidence of kidney cancer. Europe and the United States are significantly higher than Asian countries. Japan, India and other countries have a lower incidence. The incidence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

Basic Information

nickname

Adenocarcinoma of kidney

English name

renal cell carcinoma

Visiting department

Urology

Multiple groups

40 to 55 year old men

Common causes

Smoking, obesity, occupation, hypertension, diabetes, blood transfusion, radiation, related drugs, food, etc.

Common symptoms

Fever, hypertension, rapid erythrocyte sedimentation, anemia, elevated urine polyamines, elevated blood carcinoembryonic antigen, varicocele, etc.

Causes of renal cell carcinoma

The cause of kidney cancer is still unclear, and epidemiologists have conducted a lot of investigations and found that the following factors may be related to the incidence of kidney cancer: smoking, obesity, occupation (workers exposed to cadmium, steel workers and oil industry workers, etc. ), Hypertension, diabetes, blood transfusion, radiation, related drugs, food, etc. In addition, patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing long-term dialysis treatment are also at high risk of kidney cancer.

Renal cell carcinoma typing

The pathological classification of kidney cancer has important guiding significance for treatment and prognosis.

Common type

Clear renal cell carcinoma, papillary renal cell carcinoma, chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, and Bellini collecting duct cancer. About 90% of them, including 85% of clear renal cell carcinoma.

2. Rare types

Renal medullary carcinoma is rare and has a poor prognosis, which belongs to highly invasive collecting duct cancer. In addition, there are multilocular cystic renal cell carcinoma, Xp11.2 translocation / TFE3 gene fusion-related renal carcinoma, neuroblastoma-associated renal cell carcinoma, mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma. There is another type of cancer, including nephroblastoma, clear cell sarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, angiosarcoma, and malignant microhistiocytoma.

Clinical manifestations of renal cell carcinoma

The manifestations of kidney cancer can be varied. The typical "triple sign" of kidney cancer is hematuria, low back pain, and lumps. When renal cancer invades the renal pelvis, there is hematuria; the pain is mainly caused by the enlargement of the renal cancer mass and the swelling of the renal capsule, which is often dull pain. The pain caused by renal cancer invading the surrounding organs and lumbar muscles is relatively heavy and persistent Sexually, if a blood clot blocks the ureter, it is colic. Generally the surface of the mass is smooth and hard. No tenderness, if palpable, kidney cancer has reached a considerable size. Most patients have only one or two of them, and those with all three symptoms are rare, accounting for about 10%.

Systemic symptoms: About 1/3 of the patients have systemic symptoms (ie, extrarenal manifestations of renal cancer), such as fever, high blood pressure, rapid erythrocyte sedimentation, anemia, abnormal liver function, changes in the immune system, changes in hormone levels, and urine polyamines. High, blood carcinoembryonic antigen, varicocele, etc. These systemic symptoms can not only be used as a clue to discover kidney cancer, but also an important factor affecting prognosis.

Renal cell carcinoma treatment

Surgical treatment

There are surgical methods such as radical resection of kidney cancer and partial nephrectomy. Surgical methods such as open surgery or endoscopic surgery can be used. Different surgical methods and methods are adopted according to different conditions such as patients and conditions.

2. Chemotherapy.

3. Renal artery embolization.

4. Immunotherapy.

5. Molecular targeted therapy.

In short, surgery is the only way to cure kidney cancer. Interferon and interleukin-2 are currently the main immunoadjuvant treatments. For metastatic kidney cancer, targeted therapy is becoming the standard adjuvant therapy, which can improve disease-free progression and overall survival.