Renal cell carcinoma Kidney Cancer

Renal cell carcinoma, the most frequent subtype of renal tumor, accounts for about 3% of all adult malignancies, being one of the most aggressive urologic neoplasms. The peak incidence is in the sixth decade of life.

The main risk factors identified are smoking, obesity and hypertension. The cases of hereditary transmission are infrequent but configure a significant risk.

The vast majority of renal tumors are identified in an asymptomatic phase, incidentally, due to the use of imaging studies to study other pathologies. The presence of symptoms may be derived from local growth, paraneoplastic syndromes or the development of distant metastases.

In the vast majority of cases, the diagnosis and staging of renal tumors is performed with the use of computed tomography with contrast, although early suspicion may arise from a more accessible renal ultrassound. In some cases biopsies may be recommended.

The treatment of the localized renal tumor is surgical (partial or radical nephrectomy), whereas locally advanced or mestasistic renal tumor usually requires the use of systemic therapies, such as immunotherapy.

The main prognostic factor is the stage of the disease at diagnosis: although localized disease presents a very favorable prognosis after surgical treatment, locally advanced or metastatic disease is associated with reserved prognoses despite the use of systemic treatments.