Renal Cancer
Renal cancer is a relatively rare cancer accounting for approximately 3% of all adult malignancies. There are more than 5000 new cases diagnosed per year in the UK and the incidence is increasing. It most commonly affects people in their fifth to seventh decades with a male-to-female ratio of approximately 2:1.
Renal cell carcinoma (also known as clear cell carcinoma or hyper-nephroma) accounts for 80-85% of all kidney cancers. Papillary renal carcinoma constitutes approximately 10%, with the remainder including chromophobe and collecting duct carcinomas. Transitional cell carcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas and lymphomas can also arise in the kidney.
Risk factors for the development of Renal cell carcinoma include smoking, obesity, adult polycystic kidney disease and long-term renal replacement therapy. Approximately 1% of RCCs are hereditary, the most commonly associated syndrome being the von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. It has recently been demonstrated that most cases of sporadic Renal cell carcinoma have mutations in the von Hippel-Lindau gene, located on the short arm of chromosome three, Read more [...]