Review: Introduction to Kidney & Ureter Cancer

Here is what we have learned from Introduction to Kidney & Ureter Cancer:

• In the United States, kidney and ureter cancer accounts for about 3% of all adult cancers.
• Kidney and ureter cancer occurs most often in people between the ages of 50 and 70, and affects men almost twice as often as women.
• According to the National Cancer Institute, the highest incidence of kidney and ureter cancer occurs in the United States, Canada, Northern Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The lowest incidence is found in Asian countries such as Thailand, China, and the Philippines.
• The most common type of kidney and ureter cancer is renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in adults (85%).
• The least common (6% - 7%) type of kidney and ureter cancer is transitional cell carcinoma (TCC); this type of cancer does not arise in the kidney itself, but in the renal pelvis, the point where the kidney joins the tube that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder (ureter).
• Another type of kidney and ureter cancer is called Wilms tumor, which occurs most commonly in children under the age of 15 and is curable in the majority of affected children.
• Risk factors of kidney and ureter cancer include age, gender, race, family history, environment, intake, and smoking.
• Hematuria, dysuria, erythrocytosis, weight loss, pain are some of the signs and symptoms of kidney and ureter cancer.
• Prognosis and survival of kidney and ureter cancer correlate with cell type and stage at diagnosis; clear cell tumors have the best prognosis.
• Survival rates for carcinoma of the ureter are about 10-20% lower than for comparable stages of tumors in the renal pelvis.