What are the symptoms of kidney cancer

Regardless of the size of kidney cancer, about 20% of patients may not have any symptoms in the early stage. It is only during the general examination or physical examination or B-ultrasound examination for other reasons that the kidney space-occupying lesions or abdominal masses are discovered. Some patients have very small primary kidney cancer lesions and no urinary system or kidney symptoms, but first show symptoms of distant metastatic cancer.

If a patient is found to have a lump in the armpit or abdomen, it is only when the primary lesion is found that it is kidney cancer. Because of these characteristics, the early signs of kidney cancer can be manifested in two aspects: symptoms outside the urinary system and symptoms within the kidney:

Symptoms other than the urinary system Forty percent of patients only show general symptoms, such as fatigue, lack of energy, poor appetite, indigestion, nausea, constipation, etc. About 50% to 75% of patients show symptoms other than the general urinary system, such as fever, weight loss, anemia, liver dysfunction, gastrointestinal dysfunction, hypertension, hypoglycemia, etc. These symptoms often appear earlier than urinary system symptoms, such as fever can appear 2 to 6 months earlier than hematuria. Therefore, as an early warning sign of kidney cancer, patients with these symptoms should not forget to check the urinary system, and do not forget that kidney cancer can also have symptoms other than the urinary system.

Intrarenal symptoms Kidney cancer has three major symptoms: hematuria, pain, and mass. If all three are present, the disease is usually in the late stage; generally, in the early stages, only one or two of them are present.

The three main symptoms are:

hematuria

Hematuria is usually sudden and visible, without pain or other symptoms. About 70% of kidney cancer patients will have hematuria. This type of hematuria is often intermittent and can stop on its own, but it can recur many times. If you pay attention to hematuria the first time and seek medical attention early, you can get an early diagnosis.

Low back pain

About 50% of patients will experience back pain. This is the result of the enlarged cancer lesion pulling on the renal capsule or compressing the surrounding nerves and muscle tissues. Most of the pain is dull pain in the waist or upper abdomen, and sometimes blood clots are discharged downward, causing severe colic, which can be easily mistaken for kidney and ureteral stones.

Lumbar mass

When the kidney cancer lesion grows to a certain size, a mass can be felt (or seen) from the waist or upper abdomen. About 20% to 30% of patients will have this symptom. The mass is easier to feel when lying on the side, and sometimes you can see the mass moving up and down with breathing. If the mass adheres to the surrounding tissues, it is fixed and cannot be moved, which means it is in the late stage.

The early warning signs of kidney cancer mentioned above are varied and most of them are general symptoms. Urinary system symptoms will not appear until the disease develops to a certain extent. Therefore, early detection and diagnosis of kidney cancer depends on people's high vigilance against this cancer. Men and women over 40 years old, when the above warning signs appear, do not forget to include urinary system examinations to rule out the possibility of kidney cancer.

Kidney cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the kidney, accounting for about 75% of kidney tumors. Kidney cancer mostly occurs in people aged 40 to 60 years old, and is rare in children; the male to female ratio is 2.5:1. Kidney cancer can occur in any part of the kidney, but most often occurs on the kidney. It often grows alone, with different growth speeds and different sizes of lumps. Another characteristic of kidney cancer is that it is prone to distant metastasis. Common sites of distant metastasis include the lungs, liver, bones, chest cavity, abdomen, pelvis, perineum and soft tissues of the limbs.