Symptoms of the third most common cancer in the urinary system

Symptoms of the third most common cancer in the urinary system

Kidney cancer is the third most common cancer of the urinary system, after prostate cancer and bladder cancer.

6 months ago, Ms. PQP (54 years old, Bac Lieu) went to a hospital near her home for a routine health check-up. The doctor performed an abdominal ultrasound and found a cyst on her left kidney. Thinking it was a simple, benign cyst, the doctor asked her to come back for a follow-up check-up 6 months later.

Kidney cancer is the third most common cancer of the urinary system, after prostate cancer and bladder cancer.

As scheduled, 6 months later, Ms. P. returned to the hospital for an ultrasound and discovered a bleeding left renal cyst with a bud inside, suspected of malignancy, so they referred her to another general hospital for a more in-depth examination.

The CT scan results confirmed that the tumor in her left kidney was a type of renal cell cancer, invading the psoas muscle, measuring 6cm. The tumor was located at the renal hilum, where the renal artery and vein converge, and the kidney could not be preserved. Therefore, after consulting with doctors from the Oncology and Urology departments, Dr. Truc ordered an open surgery to remove the entire left kidney.

According to Dr. Pham Thanh Truc, Department of Urology, Center for Urology - Nephrology - Andrology, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, computed tomography (CT) with contrast injection helps diagnose kidney cancer more clearly and accurately.

As for kidney cancer, if CT or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) clearly identifies a malignant tumor as in Ms. P.’s case, the biopsy step can be skipped. In this case, biopsy carries many potential risks such as causing bleeding, biopsying the wrong cancer area, collecting insufficient samples, causing chronic nephritis, etc., making the biopsy results unreliable.

In addition, the CT scan showed that both kidneys of the patient were functioning well. The patient did not have underlying diseases that put him at high risk of kidney failure such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Therefore, there was no need to do a kidney scan (a test to assess kidney function before kidney surgery).

According to the World Cancer Registry (GLOBOCAN), in 2022 there were 434,840 new cases of kidney cancer and nearly 155,953 deaths. Kidney cancer is the third most common cancer among urinary system cancers, after prostate cancer and bladder cancer.

At the same time in Vietnam, GLOBOCAN recorded kidney cancer as the second most common urinary cancer, after prostate cancer, with 2,246 new cases and 1,112 deaths.

The cause of kidney cancer is currently unclear. However, there are a number of factors that increase the risk of developing kidney cancer, including: smoking, frequent exposure to toxic chemicals; overweight - obese people; people with high blood pressure, chronic kidney failure on dialysis; having relatives with kidney cancer; abusing painkillers; having some rare genetic diseases such as Von Hippel-Lindau disease (a rare genetic neurocutaneous disorder characterized by benign and malignant tumors in many organs).

Dr. Truc said that kidney cancer often does not cause symptoms, and patients only discover it by chance through imaging tests during health check-ups, similar to Ms. P's case. In some cases, patients may experience symptoms of lower back pain, blood in urine, etc. If the patient has additional symptoms of bone pain or persistent cough, there is a high possibility that the cancer has metastasized.

Surgery is the preferred treatment for kidney cancer. In cases where the tumor is small and has not metastasized, only part of the kidney may need to be removed. However, in cases where the tumor is large and located near the main blood vessels of the kidney, as in Ms. P.’s case, the doctor must remove the entire kidney.

If kidney cancer has progressed to the metastatic stage, in addition to surgery to remove the entire kidney and tumor, the patient needs additional treatments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy.

Doctor Truc advises everyone, especially those in the high-risk group as mentioned above, to have regular health check-ups every 6-12 months to detect kidney cancer early and receive appropriate treatment.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/trieu-trung-cua-loai-ung-thu-pho-bien-thu-3-trong-he-tiet-nieu-d222446.html