What causes kidney cancer?

We don't know the exact cause of most kidney cancer, but a great deal of research is being done in this area. Learn about possible causes here. read more

Although many risk factors can increase the chance of developing renal cell cancer (RCC), it is not yet clear how some of these risk factors cause kidney cells to become cancerous. Researchers are starting to understand how certain changes in the DNA inside normal kidney cells can cause them to become cancerous. read more

There are several standard types of treatment for kidney cancer. In most cases, surgery is the first step. Even if surgery removes the entire tumor, though, your doctor may suggest an extra treatment to kill any remaining cancer cells that can't be seen. Surgery for kidney cancer. These are the main types of surgery for kidney cancer. read more

A cancer that starts outside the kidney and metastasizes to the kidney is not normally called kidney cancer. Around 63,990 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed in the United States each year, causing over 14,000 deaths annually. In 2017, 40,610 American men and 23,380 women were expected to receive a diagnosis of kidney cancer. read more

For example, VHL, the gene that causes von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease, is a tumor suppressor gene. read more

Doctors don't know the causes of kidney cancer. But certain factors appear to increase the risk of getting kidney cancer. For example, kidney cancer occurs most often in people older than age 40. These are some other risk factors for kidney cancer: Smoking. If you smoke cigarettes, your risk for kidney cancer is twice that of nonsmokers. read more

Learn about the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment of kidney cancer, including renal cell carcinoma. read more

Changes in many different genes are usually needed to cause kidney cancer. Inherited gene mutations Certain inherited DNA changes can lead to conditions running in some families that increase the risk of kidney cancer. read more