Kidney Cancer Survival Rate - Dare To Know Your Chances

A kidney cancer survival rate refers to the percentage of people who were reported still living after being diagnosed with the cancer about 5 yrs ago.

Severe cases of this disease is generally treated with kidney surgery, called nephrectomy which will remove the kidney, partial nephrectomy to remove the tumor, and cryosurgery to freeze the cancerous renal mass. This disease affects thousands of people every year. The most common form of this cancer is renal cell carcinoma.

This disease is more likely to develop in people over 50 years. Men have higher risk factors for developing this cancer than women. Doctors are not sure of the exact cause of this disease. However, people who smoke or are exposed to certain chemicals can develop this disease. Other risk factors include high blood pressure, obesity, long-term dialysis and a hereditary condition.

There are four stages of this type of cancer that determine the severity of the cancer as well as the kidney cancer survival rate. Cancer stages are determined by the size of kidney tumors, the tumor location and how far the cancer has spread. In the first stage (stage I), small tumors are established in the kidney. The patients presented in stage II cancer of the kidney and fat tissue in stage III, cancer has spread to lymph nodes and blood vessels near the kidney. Patients who have more severe symptoms may require surgery or a more extensive cancer treatment.

Stage IV means the cancer has grown and spread throughout the body. This means that this disease has become metastatic. Cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body, including lymph nodes, and have formed new kidney tumors in areas such as the lungs or bladder. Surgeons may have to perform surgery on the kidney and lymph nodes to remove the tumor and prevent it from spreading wider. The kidney cancer survival rate decreases with increasing stage. The status of prognosis may heavily depend on how early the cancer is detected. In most cases, the earlier the detection, the better the prognosis.

The overall kidney cancer survival rate is 44% for 5 years and 40% for 10 years. And the rates by staging are as follows: 90% at stage 1; 65 - 75% at stage 2; 40 - 70% at stage 3; 5% at stage 4.

This is a serious disease. The symptoms include fatigue, blood in the urine (microhematuria or macroscopic hematuria ), low back pain (which can be constant at the flank area), fever of long duration, unexplained weight loss or a tumor or mass that can be felt in the back or lower back. Prostate cancer and bladder cancer may also have similar symptoms. To make a proper diagnosis of cancer, the physician must evaluate the patient as soon as the symptoms of cancer arise.