The main reason why kidney cancer is easily misdiagnosed when there are no specific symptoms

Symptoms of kidney diseases are often similar, which makes kidney cancer symptoms non-specific and easy to be misdiagnosed. If not diagnosed and treated in time, kidney cancer patients will lose the opportunity for treatment and lose their lives.

There are three types of kidney cancer in adults: kidney cancer that occurs in the renal parenchyma, accounting for about 80%; kidney cancer that occurs in the renal pelvis, accounting for about 20%; and renal embryonal carcinoma, which is relatively rare in adults and mainly occurs in children aged 1 to 3 years. Kidney cancer is easily misdiagnosed because its symptoms are not specific.

Pain: Although pain is one of the unique symptoms of kidney cancer, patients are often unable to seek medical attention immediately because the pain is not severe enough.

Hematuria: Patients with kidney cancer often experience painless hematuria, but this symptom is often intermittent and can be easily ignored by patients.

Early metastasis is prone to occur: Since a small number of renal cancer patients metastasize relatively early, the symptoms caused by metastatic cancer are relatively obvious, making it difficult to detect the symptoms of the primary cancer. For example, when renal cancer metastasizes to the bone, fractures and local lumps often occur. Spinal metastasis can cause low back pain, lower abdominal numbness, etc.

When painless, intermittent hematuria, a mass palpable in the abdomen or kidney area, and low back pain occur clinically, it is not very difficult to diagnose kidney cancer with the help of X-rays, B-ultrasound, CT, and other related examinations. However, patients often do not have all three symptoms, and may even complain of symptoms of the digestive tract and other organs. At this time, patients often seek treatment from gastroenterology or orthopedics, which leads to misdiagnosis of kidney cancer.