Kidney Cancer Symptoms

The kidney cancer symptoms are not evident in the early stages. Kidney cancer is the malignant growth of cells in the kidney.

The cells become cancerous and form tumor in the kidney and may spread to the surrounding areas or organs like the lymph nodes and lungs, colon or even the pancreas.

Let us know how kidney cancer spreads before knowing the kidney caner symptoms. The kidney cancer which spreads is termed as metastasized. If the cancer cells are in the lymph nodes it means that the disease has spread to the other parts.

Kidney cancer is of various types. The Wilm’s tumor is the kidney cancer in children and differs from that of adults. Some of the important types are the renal cell cancer and the transitional cell cancer or carcinoma.

The former type is the most common one and the later less common. The later one affects the renal pelvis and is similar to the bladder cancer and treated similarly.

Kidney cancer may spread and form new tumors, most often in the bones or lungs. The new tumors have the same kind of abnormal cells and the same name as the original (primary) tumor in the kidney.

For example, if this disease spreads to the lungs, the cancer cells in the lungs are kidney cancer cells. In this case the disease is metastatic kidney cancer; it is not lung cancer.

Kidney Cancer Symptoms or Signs of Kidney Cancer

Unfortunately the kidney cancer symptoms or sign of kidney cancer is not evident in the early stages of the disease. In the later stages, the most common kidney cancer symptom both renal cell and transitional cell cancers is blood in the urine (hematuria). Blood may be present one day and not the next.

Blood in urine may sometimes be visible to naked eye or only seen under the microscope in urinalysis. Apart from hematuria they are other possible kidney cancer symptoms which include:

  • A pain in the back just below the ribs that doesn’t go away is considered the kidney cancer symptom
  • A lump or a mass in the area of the kidneys that’s discovered during an examination may be a sign of this disease
  • Unintentional weight loss
  • Weakness or Fatigue
  • Loss of appetite
  • Recurrent fevers or Intermittent fever
  • In the advanced stage the, metastasized form pain in other parts of the body may be experienced which may stay for long
  • Overall health of the patient will deteriorate to a large extent
  • High blood pressure or a lower than normal number of red cells in the blood (anemia) may also signal a kidney tumor (less common).

Keep in mind that these kidney cancer symptoms which are mentioned above may also be caused by some other less serious problems as well. For example they may be caused due to an infection or a cyst too.

So certainly a doctor’s diagnosis is required. Even a small sign should be given importance and doctor advice should be taken immediately. The early the detection the better the chances of recovery and prognosis.