We all are aware of the fact how dangerous and deadly cancer can be. But still not many people know about all the types of cancer. Even after kidney cancer being one of the ten common cancers present in the world, many few people know about it. Kidney cancer is caused because of accumulating abnormal cells in the kidney that form a tumour and then gets spread throughout the kidney and beyond. The exact reason for kidney cancer is not known but there are some misconceptions that surely need to be corrected. Check out these myths and facts about kidney cancer which you may not know.
Myths and Facts About Kidney Cancer
1. Renal cell carcinoma is the only type of kidney cancer
No, it is false. Renal cell carcinoma is most common cancer that affects your kidney but it is not the only one. There are some other types of kidney cancers too which affect people and are likely more life-threatening. 90% of cases of kidney cancers however have this types of tumour because of which majority of people think it is the only kind of tumour that affects kidneys. Carcinoma cancer begins on the lining of the kidney and then starts affecting cells inside it as well.
2. Kidney cancer occurs in men
Opposite to popular belief it is not true. Kidney cancer does affect men twice as more as compared to women but not only to men. According to experts, the higher levels of androgens which are evident in males are the cause behind it. Male sex hormones are more susceptible to cancer than females because of which kidney cancer is more common in men than women.
Another fact about kidney cancer is that women who get this tumour, is usually because of polycystic ovary syndrome that causes increase in androgens in women’s body. Also older people are at higher risk of kidney cancer.
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3. Kidney cancer treatment is same as other cancer treatment
There is actually a major difference in treatment of kidney cancers as compared to other types of cancers. Hence this is myth; the real fact is that common cancer treatment such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy are rarely used in treating kidney cancers. In most of cases, these treatments do not work for kidney cancer patients. Therefore surgery remains as the only major treatment option in kidney cancer.
It is important that patients having this cancer are diagnosed on time, because kidney cancer surgery is only effective until 2-3 stages of cancer. Tumour needs to be cut off from the kidney and patients are cured in many cases. But if the tumour increases to a level that it spreads throughout the kidney, then it could be hard to recover patients. Immunotherapy is more often used in treatment of kidney cancer.
4. You can survive on just one kidney
Yes it is true; you can survive on single kidney as well even after your one kidney is removed. In many cases tumour spreads to whole kidney because of which it needs to remove by surgical method. Kidneys are important as they remove waste and excess water from the blood. Even if your one kidney is healthy, it can work for you and can remove waste and toxins from the body in form of urine. That is the reason why people can donate their one kidney out of two to someone who is in need of it.
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5. Kidney cancer always needs treatment
This is a partially true statement because it depends on the rate of cancer growing in the kidney. It also depends at what age you are diagnosed with kidney. Tumour in the kidneys progress very slowly and someone who is diagnosed with this cancer at age above 60 years might not necessary need treatment. It is a very slow process and takes several years to become dominant or risky. Also most of the cases of kidney tumours are diagnosed at initial stage because of which they can be treated on time. This is the reason that survival rate is high in kidney cancer patients and treatment may not be necessary.
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