Kidney Cancer Prevention and Early Detection

Learn what you need to know about lifestyle changes and symptoms

If you smoke, quit. Smoking is the cause of a large percentage of cases of kidney cancer. Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network has counselors and other resources to help you quit smoking. (Link to the right).

Making other changes in your life may also reduce your risk for kidney cancer:

• Obesity -- lose weight till your body mass index is below 30.
• High blood pressure -- follow your doctor’s recommendations; if your doctor prescribes medicine, take it even if you feel good.
• The foods you eat -- eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat and fats.
• Workplace -- avoid exposure to cadmium, asbestos and organic solvents.

Can Kidney Cancer Be Detected Early?

Kidney cancers are difficult to detect early because they can get quite large and not cause you any pain. There are no simple screening tests to detect kidney cancer early. Blood in the urine could be a symptom, although it is probably a symptom of something else, like an infection. You may not be able to see blood in your urine. A routine urinalysis during a regular checkup will find blood in the urine. However, just as blood doesn’t always mean cancer, absence of blood doesn’t always mean absence of cancer.

In fact, kidney cancers can have so few symptoms, doctors often find them when they are testing for something else, such as gall bladder disease.

Other possible symptoms of kidney cancer are:

• Low back pain on one side
• Unintentional weight loss
• A fever you don’t know the cause of, that doesn’t go away after a few weeks
• Swelling of your legs and ankles
• A mass or lump in your abdomen
• Fatigue

Most of the time, these symptoms don’t mean you have kidney cancer. But you won’t know till you talk to your doctor. And they are serious enough that you should have them checked out, no matter what the cause.

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