What is Kidney Cancer?
What is the difference between Kidney Cancer, Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure?
Kidney Cancer, Kidney Disease and Kidney Failure are terms we hear often. What are the differences, and how are they related? The more you know about your kidneys and how to prevent (whenever possible) serious illnesses, the healthier your kidneys will be, and subsequently, the healthier you will be overall.

The Kidney
Normally, they travel in pairs, reside on either side of the spine above the waist and work to help filter your blood of waste, excess water and help regulate chemical balances. "Waste water" or urine collects in the central area, the renal pelvis, and when released, travels down the ureter into the bladder, then exits your body through the uretra.

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Kidney Failure
Kidneys stop functioning normally, when they are no longer able to remove waste, excess water from the blood or keep body chemicals in balance. A buildup of toxic or poisonous substances and fluids can result. Organ damage and eventually, death, may result.

If due to an injury, an acute or severe kidney failure occurs with a sudden, rapid increase in toxins and fluids within the body over many hours. This form may be treated and cured.

Chronic kidney failure, however, cannot be cured. Chronic kidney failure develops more slowly over many months or years. Kidney function progressively deteriorates. Among many other causes, conditions such as high blood pressure, kidney stones or diabetes may trigger the failure. It may lead to a total kidney failure, end stage renal disease, requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant. Dialysis is the mechanical process of filtering the blood by sending it through a membrane.

Symptoms to look for include: reduction in the volume of urine; bloody or cloudy urine and swelling or edema in the hands, feet and puffiness around the eyes.

Ignored, untreated symptoms may result in delirium, coma and death.

Kidney (Renal) Cancer
Kidney cancer begins as cells within the kidney which grow and divide uncontrollably. The cancer may stay in the kidney, or use the lymphatic system to migrate to other parts of the body. The most common forms of kidney cancer include renal cell carcinoma (cancer that forms in the lining of very small tubes in the kidney that filter the blood and remove waste products) and renal pelvis carcinoma (cancer that forms in the center of the kidney where urine collects). It also includes Wilms’ tumor, which is a type of kidney cancer that usually develops in children under the age of 5.

Symptoms are not so clearly defined. However, risk factors can give you an increased chance of developing the disease. Age is a factor, with kidney cancer occurring in people between the ages of 50 and 70; family history; gender (men develop kidney cancer close to twice as often as women), a high-fat diet and obesity appear to contribute to cancer also. Avoid asbestos, and toxic chemicals such as cadmium (usually found in industrial workplaces where ore is processed or smelted). Smoking doubles the risk of kidney cancer. Cysts from long-term kidney dialysis may lead to cancer. Inherited genetic diseases or syndromes such as Tuberous Sclerosis and Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome may cause tumors to grow in the kidney.

Kidney Disease
Diabetes and high blood pressure are major causes of kidney disease. Glomerulonephritis is a general term for kidney inflammation forms of kidney disease. Genetic and autoimmune diseases, birth defects and other problems may also lead to kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease includes conditions that damage your kidneys and decreases their ability to keep you healthy by decreasing their ability to do their job. As kidney disease gets worse, wastes can build to toxic levels in your blood and make you sick. Complications due to kidney disease such as high blood pressure, anemia (low blood count), weak bones, poor nutritional health and nerve damage can also occur. Kidney disease increases your risk of having heart and blood vessel disease. These problems may happen slowly over a long period of time. Early detection and treatment can often keep chronic kidney disease from getting worse. If you have a family history connection with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), you can be tested. Doctors can use a non-invasive ultrasound to check your kidneys for cycts.

Additional symptoms to look for along with the ones mentioned for other kidney disorders include ammonia breath or an ammonia or metal taste in the mouth; back pain; loss of appetite; severe itching and, if diabetic, more hypoglycemic episodes.

When kidney disease progresses, it may eventually lead to kidney failure, which requires dialysis or a kidney transplant to maintain life.