Renal cancer: Doctors share tips to detect symptoms of kidney cancer early

Unlike other cancers, there is no recommended screening test for renal cancer. So, it often goes easily unnoticed hence, it becomes important to raise awareness about kidney cancer – its symptoms, preventive care and most important the treatment options.

It has been observed that nearly 60% of the patients diagnosed with kidney cancer present with blood in the urine, which is painless and continuous. As a result, people with haematuria are evaluated, they are advised for screening but while one-third of them are diagnosed because of symptoms, nearly 50% of them remain undiagnosed because they are asymptomatic.

Unlike other cancers like prostate, cervix or breast cancer, there is no recommended screening test for kidney cancer. So, it often goes easily unnoticed hence, it becomes important to raise awareness about kidney cancer – its symptoms, preventive care and most important the treatment options.

Tips on how to detect renal cancer early:

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Prof Dr Raj Nagarkar, MD and Chief of Surgical Oncology and Robotic Services at HCG Manavta Cancer Centre, shared, “Urine and blood tests, which are routinely performed as part of a health check-up, may aid in the detection of kidney cancer. There are additional expensive tests such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans or ultrasound, which are less expensive and can detect early kidney cancers. So, it is imperative that each individual monitors health and body signs, undertake periodic health check-ups and consultation with specialist, especially if you are in the age group prone to such malignant illness.”

According to Dr Rohit Kumar, Consultant - Surgical Oncology at Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center of Manipal Hospital in Sarjapur, “Symptoms such as blood in urine and weight loss can help detect cancer in the early stage. Nowadays, we are detecting a rise in the number of kidney cancer cases because people are getting their routine screening done which helps in early diagnosis. In most cases, we do partial nephrectomies and avoid doing totally nephrectomies because we are detecting the cancer cases early.”