More than half of kidney tumors are detected during random examinations, such as ordinary ultrasound, the urology expert pointed out at a press conference on male genitourinary diseases.
“The ultrasound of the abdominal cavity, as well as urine analysis, should be performed at least once a year. Then there is a greater chance of detecting kidney cancer at an early stage of development, ”said Dr. Roman Sosnowski, urologist from the Oncology Center in Warsaw.
He added that men over 45 years of age suffer from kidney cancer twice as often as women. The M45 + educational campaign on prostate, kidney and bladder cancer is also addressed to them.
The symptoms of kidney cancer may include pain in the lumbar region, hematuria, and a palpable lump in the abdomen. Such ailments occur in 10 percent. sick. Slightly more often, 30 percent. patients, there are anemia, high blood pressure, weakness, weight loss and lack of appetite, as well as severe abdominal and bone pain. You may also develop hypercalcemia (high levels of calcium in the blood). However, these can also be symptoms of other diseases, which is why they are rarely associated with kidney cancer even by doctors.
“Only regular tests can detect the disease at an early stage of development” – emphasized Dr. Sosnowski. Unfortunately, men – he admitted – are reluctant to examine themselves and are diagnosed with the disease too late.
Kidney cancer in 25-30% patients, it is detected only in the advanced stage, when it has already metastasized to other organs (most often to the lungs and liver). Another 25-30 percent. it is not yet as generalized as oncologists describe it, but it is already so developed that metastases will certainly occur anyway.
Only in 40-60 percent. patients have a ‘small’ kidney tumor with good prognosis. Such tumors do not extend beyond the kidney parenchyma. At the first stage of development, they are no more than 7 cm in diameter and are 96 percent. curable. In stage II, they may be more than 7 cm, but are still found only in the kidney. In these cases, 82 percent. patients survive five years after the diagnosis of cancer (which is a measure of the effectiveness of therapy in oncology).
“Kidney tumors that extend beyond the kidney have the worst prognosis. If they have not caused metastases yet, five-year survival is achieved in 64 percent. patients. When the disease is spread, only 23 percent live five years. sick “- explained Dr. Sosnowski.
Treatment of small tumors not only has a better prognosis, but does not always require immediate treatment. All you need to do then is to observe whether the tumor is growing. “Some of them develop slowly, in such situations you can wait until the disease progresses” – said the specialist. This strategy is used for male prostate cancer. It can also be used in patients with kidney cancer, when the tumor does not exceed 3 cm and does not grow larger.
Treatment is mainly based on surgical removal of the tumor or the entire kidney. When the tumor is not large, it is enough to cut out part of the kidney. The choice is then a minimally invasive surgery involving the removal of the tumor, the so-called cryoablation (by freezing), radio frequency waves, laser or ultrasound.
In advanced kidney cancer, new generation drugs are used, including stimulating the immune system to destroy cancer cells and inhibiting the formation of blood vessels (without them, the tumor cannot grow). “In advanced kidney cancer, however, such preparations can only extend the patient’s life” – emphasized Dr. Sosnowski.
In Poland, kidney cancer is diagnosed in over 2,3 thousand patients every year. men, of whom over 1,5 thousand die sick. It most often occurs after the age of 45.
The most susceptible to it are smokers, obese people and those exposed at work to chemical compounds belonging to the group of aromatic amines, solvents and heavy metals. (PAP)
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