What Kidney Disease and Kidney Cancer Are
The kidneys are bean-shaped organs, normally paired, that lie deep within the abdomen on either side of the lumbar spine. They play a critical role in filtering the blood and in helping maintain normal physiologic levels of important minerals and electrolytes and also help govern total body water content. The kidneys also contribute hormones into the circulation that can affect blood pressure. The kidneys have collecting systems for gathering urine and are connected to long muscular tubes, called ureters, that transmit urine into the bladder for storage and later excretion.
Many different kinds of diseases can affect the kidneys, ureters and bladder as well as the vessels that supply blood to and drain blood from these organs. These include acute and chronic infections, autoimmune diseases, clotting disorders that can affect the renal arteries or veins, cancer (both primary and secondary), trauma, kidney (renal) stone disease and a host of developmental and congenital disorders. Medical imaging continues to play a critical role in both the initial diagnosis and treatment follow-up for most diseases. Pre-surgical planning is greatly aided by the use of imaging, especially in patients being considered for renal donation (transplant), surgical resection for cancer, ureteral obstruction, and stone disease as well as in the evaluation of patients who have already received a transplanted kidney.
Facts About Kidney Disease and Kidney Cancer
Following are some facts about a few of the many conditions that can affect the kidneys.
- According to the National Kidney Foundation, almost 20 million adult Americans have chronic
kidney disease and another 20 million are at risk of developing it.
- Many people with chronic kidney disease don’t realize they have it until their kidney
function is less than 25% of normal.
- About 600,000 people in the United States have polycystic kidney disease.
- Polycystic kidney disease is one of the most common hereditary diseases and affects all
races and both genders equally.
- Serious complications of polycystic kidney disease include hypertension and kidney failure.
- About 35,000 Americans are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year and more than 12,000 die from it.
- Kidney cancer seldom causes symptoms in its early stages. However, if kidney cancer is found
and treated early, there is a good chance for a full recovery.
- Smokers are twice as likely to develop kidney cancer as non-smokers.
- 1 in 10 Americans will have at least one kidney stone sometime during their life.