Understanding and Treatment of Kidney Cancer

Kidney cancer is a type of cancer that attacks the kidneys. Kidneys are the organs in the body that serve to filter waste from the blood and turn it into urine. Humans have two kidneys are located on either side of the waist below the rib cage. Cancer usually affects only one kidney.

Kidney cancer mostly affects people aged 50 years and over. In the early stages there are usually no symptoms are felt. In later stages, a person suffering from this disease can feel pain and swelling around the waist area. In addition, kidney cancer symptoms can include:

• Changing the color of urine becomes reddish or brown because it was mixed with blood.
• Weight loss.
• Blood deficiency or anemia.
• Body feels tired.
• Decreased appetite.
• Sweating at night.
• Hypertension or high blood pressure.
• Swelling of blood vessels around the testicles (if kidney cancer suffered by men).
• High fever.

The severity of kidney cancer is generally characterized by the TNM system. T indicating how large the cancer tissue (tumor) has grown, among them:

• T1a (when the tumor diameter is less than 4 cm).
• T1b (when the tumor diameter has reached a size of 4 to 7 cm).
• T2 (when the tumor diameter was more than 7 cm but has not spread outside the kidney).
• T3a (when the tumor has spread to the layer of fat surrounding the kidney or has spread to the adrenal gland).
• T3b (when the tumor has spread into the renal vein or into the main vein / vena cava).
• T3c (if the spread of the tumor has passed through the diaphragm).
• T4 (if the spread of the tumor has passed through a layer of hard tissue that protects the kidneys).

The letter N indicates whether the cancer has spread to lymph nodes near the kidneys, among them:

• N0 (absence of cancer cells in the lymph nodes).
• N1 (cancer cells already present in the lymph nodes).
• N2 (cancer cells already present in two or more lymph nodes).

And the last letter, the letter M, indicating whether cancer cells have spread to other body parts. The following divisions:

• M0 (indicating that the cancer cells have not spread to other body parts).
• M1 (indicating that the cancer has spread to other body parts).

Causes of Kidney Cancer
Cancer occurs when cells in the human body grow uncontrollably. In cases of kidney cancer, the cause is unknown. Although it is not yet known, there are a number of factors that can increase the risk of kidney cancer, including:

• Being overweight or obese.
• Having a family member with kidney cancer patients.
• Smoke.
• Hypertension.

In addition to these factors, kidney cancer also allegedly could occur as a result of side effects of dialysis treatment in cases of kidney failure and side effects of pain medication consumption (eg, drug class nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory), although this risk is very small.

Kidney Cancer Diagnosis
If you experience symptoms of kidney cancer, such as persistent pain in the lumbar region and urine with blood, see your doctor for examination.

The doctor will likely perform blood and urine checks first to ensure kidney conditions experienced by the patient. This means that your symptoms are not necessarily due to cancer patients and may be due to kidney stones or other kidney infections.

Just as cystoscopy examination, this method may be performed if the doctor suspects a blood in the urine due to problems in the bladder.

If it turns out the cause of the symptoms is not due to an infection, kidney stones disease, or other conditions, then the doctor can perform further investigation in order to detect the presence of kidney cancer, such as:

• Ultrasound
• Biopsy
• CT scans and MRI scans
• X-ray inspection

Treatment of Kidney CancerMethods of treatment of kidney cancer, the primary is through surgery. There are two kinds of operation, the first is nephrectomy. Through this procedure, the doctor will try to eliminate cancer cells by lifting a part of the kidney or even completely, depending on the size of the diameter of the tumor.

If the tumor diameter is less than 4 cm, then some parts of the affected kidney cancer would be cut by a doctor. Conversely, if the diameter of the tumor is more than 4 cm, then the kidneys must be removed and then the patient will live with one kidney.

Another type of treatment is embolization. This procedure is done by injecting a special substance into the renal vein in order to impede the flow of blood. By cutting off supply of nutrients or oxygen to the kidney, the tumor will shrink gradually.

In addition, when multiple medications are being developed to treat kidney cancer, such as:

• Sunitinib. This drug works by inhibiting protein kinase (an enzyme that helps the growth of cancer cells) so that the development of cancer can be stopped.
• Sorafenib and pazopanib. In addition to working as sunitinib, which inhibits the enzyme tyrosine kinase, both drugs can also prevent cancer cells grow blood vessels.
• Axitinib. This drug is usually used as an alternative by doctors when sunitinib or pazopanib administration ineffective. These drugs have not entered into Indonesia.
• Temsirolimus and everolimus. Both drugs work by inhibiting the mTOR protein or interfere with the function contained in the cancer cells, so that the number of cancer cells do not increase.

In addition to the use of drugs, ways of handling the cases of kidney cancer also includes:

• Radiotherapy. Although the procedures that use radiation from radioactive energy can not fully treat cancer, radiotherapy can reduce the pain felt patient and can slow the progression of cancer.
• Radiofrequency ablation. This method is often applied to a doctor if the severity of kidney cancer is still low (early stage). On the other hand, took this step because of the patient's condition does not allow it to be operated or position too close to bowel cancer. In this method, the cancer cells will be destroyed by the heat generated from the radio wave.
• Cryotherapy. Almost the same as radiofrequency ablation, cryotherapy performed if the patient's condition does not allow for surgery, such as less fit or size of the tumor is still small. In this method, cancer cells are killed by being deep-frozen.

Prevention of Kidney Cancer
We can minimize the risk of kidney cancer by implementing a healthy lifestyle, such as:

• Quit smoking or avoid cigarette smoke.
• Eating foods rich in fiber, such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, as well as eating foods that are low in fat and salt. In addition, multiply the consumption of salmon, sardines, and mackerel as vitamin D in fish oil can reduce the risk of cancer.
• Perform regular exercise for 2.5 hours in a week, such as the activity of cycling, brisk walking, swimming or running.

If you suffer from obesity, reduce weight to avoid kidney cancer by combining a regular exercise and healthy food consumption.

Kidney Cancer Prognosis
The success rate of the treatment and the length of life of kidney cancer depends on the aggressiveness and severity of the disease when diagnosed. If the kidney cancer is still in its initial phase when diagnosed, the better the chance of patients to live longer would be greater than those whose cancer has entered an intermediate phase or severe when diagnosed. Often surgical removal of the kidney could carry the disease and the patient can lead a healthy life even with one kidney.

It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of patients with early stage kidney cancer were successfully diagnosed the doctor, can live at least five years into the future. While in the case of cancer that has spread beyond the kidney when diagnosed, patients are able to live at least the next 5 years is expected to reach 70 percent.

The life expectancy is considered better than the cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed severe, that when the cancer cells have undermined a number of other organs. The opportunity to be able to live at least five years ahead is estimated that only 10 percent of it.

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