Introduction
Kidney cancer is among the many forms of cancerous conditions that manifest in the human body. Renal cell carcinoma as it is referred in the medical world describes the situation where the kidney cells become malignant. The formation of cancer can take two different forms. One of the forms develops when the kidney cells grow uncontrollably to form large tubules in the kidney thus inhibiting its functions. The other type of cancerous formation occurs when the kidney cells divide at a faster rate forming lumps in the kidneys (Kidneycancer.org 1).
Kidney cancer has been prevalent in the United States with the recent statistics indicating that out of the 1.3 million people diagnosed with cancer, 50,000 of them were suffering from kidney cancer. The United States cancer association reports that there exist over 200,000 survivors of kidney cancer living in the United States. Although the doctors do not know the cause of the condition, when detected early, the condition can be treated or managed. The early diagnoses require that the cancerous cells have not undergone metastases, a medical condition that refers to the migration of the malignant cells to other parts of the body (Kidneycancer.org 2).
When the kidney of a person develops the malignant condition, the functions of the kidneys are significantly affected. The kidneys are bean shaped organs found on the lower parts of the human abdomen. The kidneys play several physiological processes in the body. One of the critical functions is balancing the concentration of the amount of body salt present in the body fluid by controlling the level of the sodium discharged in urine. The kidney plays a significant role in maintaining the level of the concentration of the minerals in the blood by allowing the exchange of salts and minerals between the blood and the body fluids. The kidney is instrumental I removing waste products in the body through the reverse osmosis and active transport in the body. When the kidney cells are infected with cancer, they are unable to function optimally and the patient can suffer the related conditions due to the accumulation of the waste and toxic products in the blood and the body fluids (Choueiri, Toni, Youjin and Eunyoung 386).
When the malignant cells are detected early, the treatment process is easy. However, most of the cancerous cells are detected later in the development process because the patients do not the symptoms that can drive them to asking for screening. The doctors advise that the adult people should go for screening because the signs of the condition are hard to notice. Nonetheless, the causes of the kidney cancer remain a mystery in the medical field. Several studies have been made and are being made in the medical field to evaluate the possible cause of the condition but to date; no study has come to a logical conclusion. The many studies that have been made have provided an insight towards the risk factors of the disease (Choueiri, Toni, Youjin and Eunyoung 388).
Risk factors are the conditions that when the human body is exposed to them, puts one at a higher risk of developing the condition. The healthcare researchers have identified several risk factors that put one at a risk of developing the condition. The risk factors vary from living styles, genetic make-up, presence of other diseases, and exposure to radioactive environment to being subjected to some forms of medical treatment. The risk factors that have been identified influence the development of the condition in varying degrees with some having been labeled the most influential to the condition. The most interesting thing about the findings is that the most influential risk factors are health style related, and thus controllable.
Genetic make-up has been connected to the increased likelihood of developing kidney cancer. The researchers as among the leading genetic kidney cancer risk factors have identified one of the hereditary disorders referred to as the Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) condition. The medical researchers have made a tremendous step in the study by isolating the gene that causes the VHL disorder. The step has offered future possibilities for the early diagnosis, management and diagnosis of kidney malignancy (Choueiri, Toni, Youjin and Eunyoung 389).
Another genetic disorder linked to the development of kidney cancer is Birt Hogg Dube syndrome. The disorder is mainly characterized by the availability of several bumps appearing on the skin around the nose, ears, forehead, cheeks, and neck. Tuberous sclerosis has also been linked with the development of renal cell carcinoma. However, smoking and obesity pose the most significant threat towards development of the condition (Choueiri, Toni, Youjin and Eunyoung 390).
The American Cancer Society reported that over one million fresh cases of the renal cell carcinoma are reported annually in the US. The preference of the condition indicates that the disease manifest twice as much in males than in females. The condition is more prevalent of the older population above 40 years than in the young children and young adults. The report indicates that renal cell carcinoma happens to be the most frequent kind of kidney cancer in the American societies. However, when compared to the other types of cancers, it forms a relatively low percentage constituting of 3% of the cases. When the condition is diagnosed early, surgical treatment is easy done by removing the cancerous cells. However, an early diagnosis is difficult owing to the lack of pronounced symptoms of the disease (Kidneycancer.org 3).
The early stages symptoms go unnoticed or are misdiagnosed until they have grown fairly large and have displaced other organs. The displacement of the other organs in most cases is the notable symptom of the disease. The history of the disease indicates that most of the renal tumors are discovered incidentally by ultra sound and x-ray examinations that were not performed for the purpose. 30% of the kidney patients manifest symptoms at the advanced stage of the disease. At the time of the diagnosis, 25% have the cancerous tissue having spread to the other parts of their bodies. At that time, the treatment and management is not as easy as it would have been were the case diagnosed earlier (Kidneycancer.org 4).
The most common sign of the condition manifested in most people is painless passing of blood in urine, a condition termed as hematuria. Unfortunately, the blood in urine appears one day and is gone in the next, and can easily be ignored. In addition, the presence o blood in urine could indicate other conditions such as kidney stones. Other signs may include abdominal mass, thickening under the skin, back pain among the persons over forty years, weight loss, and high calcium in blood (Sumpio, Catherine, Knobf, and Sangchoon 287).
The condition is tested for its presence using various methods such as computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, PET scan, Angiography and biopsy procedures. Other tests include urinalysis and blood tests. Kidney cancer is treated using various methods determined by the grading of the malignant cells. Surgery, chemotherapy, radioactive treatment or a combination of surgery and chemotherapy may be employed in the treatment (Sumpio, Catherine, Knobf, and Sangchoon 292).
Works cited
Choueiri, Toni K., Youjin Je, and Eunyoung Cho. "Analgesic use and the risk of kidney cancer Ameta-analysis of epidemiologic studies." International Journal of Cancer 134.2 (2013): 384-396. Print.
Kidneycancer.org. "About Kidney Cancer." Kidney Cancer Association. N.p., 2016. Web.
9 Feb, 2016.
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Sumpio, Catherine, M. T. Knobf, and Sangchoon Jeon. "Treatment complexity: a description of chemotherapy and supportive care treatment visits in patients with advanced-stage cancer diagnoses." Support Care Cancer 24.1 (2015): 285-293. Print.
