Kidney Cancer Awareness Month
Renal (Kidney) Cancer Kidney cancer is the third most commonly occurring genitourinary cancer in adults. There are approximately 54,000 new cancer cases each year in the United States, and the incidence of kidney cancer appears to be on the rise. Kidney cancer tends to occur most commonly in individuals over the age of 40 and is more common in men than in women. Most kidney cancers occur spontaneously, although some are associated with hereditary conditions, including von Hippel-Lindau disease and hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma. Potential risk factors include cigarette smoking, obesity and high blood pressure. Although most growths that arise in the kidneys are cancers, about 20% to 25% of kidney tumors are benign. The most common types of benign kidney tumors are oncocytoma and angiomyolipoma. Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer. There are several sub-types of renal cell carcinoma...