[Guest]

An urgent care xray accidentally showed a tumor on my mothers right kidney. The dr. was not looking for kidney cancer but he noticed the mass and ordered more xrays because he was suspicious. As it turned out she had her kidney removed and the tumor was cancer. She has made a full recovery and is cancer free mostly due to the fact that it was found in the very early stages.

Her surgeon/dr. told her that her type of kidney cancer is often passed on from mother to daughter(s) and that we (her daughters) should be tested regularly.

I am not doubting the dr.'s word but I am curious. (It is also possible my mother misunderstood which is rare for her.) If I and my sisters need to be tested, what type of test does he mean? I had chronic kidney infections when I was very young and chronic bladder infections until my hysterectomy after which I have had none. Am I at greater risk?

Thanks for your answer.

[Guest]

As you will read below, there are several types of familial renal tumors. We often screen appropriate relatives with kidney ultrasound. I do not think a prior history of infections has a worrisome influence re tumor development in these cases.


International renal-cell-cancer study. VI. the role of medical and family history.
Int J Cancer 1996 Jun 11;66(6):723-6 (ISSN: 0020-7136)
Schlehofer B; Pommer W; Mellemgaard A; Stewart JH; McCredie M; Niwa S; Lindblad P; Mandel JS; McLaughlin JK; Wahrendorf J
Division of Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.
A number of medical conditions have been linked with renal-cell cancer, although the evidence is not consistent in every case. In a large international case-control study of renal-cell cancer, we examined, among other hypotheses, associations with a personal history of certain medical conditions and a family history of cancer of the kidney or thyroid. Relative risks (RR), adjusted for the effects of age, gender, body-mass index, tobacco smoking and study centre, were significantly increased by a history of kidney stones or thyroid or kidney disease. The RR were not altered by additional adjustment for hypertension, or when diagnoses were restricted to those made at least 5 or 10 years before 1987 (the usual "cut-off" date). The link with kidney injury is particularly likely to be affected by recall bias. Increased RR of borderline significance were found for kidney infection (RR, 1.2) and diabetes (RR, 1.4). Having one first-degree relative with kidney cancer was associated with a significantly increased risk of renal-cell cancer (RR, 1.6; 95% Cl, 1.1-2.4). Seven cases reported 2 first-degree relatives with kidney cancer. No controls had first-degree relatives with kidney cancer. None of our participants reported having von Hippel-Lindau disease. The data suggests that a few conditions of the kidney are strongly associated with renal-cell cancer and that heredity plays a role in a small proportion of cases.







Parenchymal sparing surgery in patients with hereditary renal cell carcinoma: 10-year experience.
J Urol 2001 Mar;165(3):777-81 (ISSN: 0022-5347)
Herring JC; Enquist EG; Chernoff A; Linehan WM; Choyke PL; Walther MM
Urologic Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute and the Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Department, Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
PURPOSE: von Hippel-Lindau disease, hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma, the Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome and familial renal oncocytoma are familial renal tumor syndromes. These hereditary disorders are noteworthy for the development of multiple bilateral renal tumors and the risk of new tumors throughout life. One management strategy is observation of solid renal tumors until reaching 3 cm, then performing parenchymal sparing surgery. We present a 5-year update on our experience. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May 1988 to October 1998, 49 patients with hereditary renal cell carcinoma, including von Hippel-Lindau disease in 44, hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma in 4 and the Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome in 1, and 1 with familial renal oncocytoma underwent exploration to attempt renal parenchymal sparing surgery. Patients were followed prospectively with periodic screening for recurrence, metastasis and loss of renal function. Median followup was 79.5 months (range 0.7 to 205). RESULTS: A total of 50 patients underwent 71 operations resulting in unilateral nephrectomy in 6, bilateral nephrectomy in 1 and partial nephrectomy in 65, with 1 to 51 tumors removed from each kidney (mean 14.7). Mean patient age was 39.5 years (range 18 to 70). Of the 65 (40%) partial nephrectomies 26 were performed with cold renal ischemia. Mean blood loss was 2.9 +/- 0.5 l (range 0.15 to 23). Postoperative complications included renal atrophy in 3 patients. Mean preoperative serum creatinine was 1.05 +/- 0.03 mg/dl (range 0.6 to 1.8), and postoperative creatinine was 1.06 +/- 0.04 mg/dl (range 0.6 to 2.0). No patient who underwent renal parenchymal sparing surgery required renal replacement therapy. Metastatic disease developed in 1 patient with a 4.5 cm renal tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Parenchymal sparing surgery with a 3 cm threshold in patients with hereditary renal cancer appears to be an effective therapeutic option to maximize renal function while minimizing the risk of metastatic disease.

[quote] An urgent care xray accidentally showed a tumor on my mothers right kidney. The dr... [/quote]

[Guest]

Thank you. So I need to find out what kind of tumor or cancer my mother had on her kidney. Then take the information to my PCP.

Is it unusual for someone who has never smoked or been around second-hand smoke, never been overweight,never been around chemicals and never taken phen phen, etc., to develope kidney cancer? She has never had cancer before. She did have a goiter in her 20's (she's 77 now) and had her thyroid removed.
[quote] As you will read below, there are several types of familial renal tumors. We often screen appropriate relatives with kidney ultrasound... [/quote]

[Guest]

No, unfortunately it is not unusual.
[quote] Thank you. So I need to find out what kind of tumor or cancer my mother had on her kidney... [/quote]