Kidney Cancer Awareness Month

Kidney cancer is the third most commonly occurring genitourinary cancer in adults. There are approximately 54,000 new cancer cases each year in the United States, and the incidence of kidney cancer appears to be on the rise. Kidney cancer tends to occur most commonly in individuals over the age of 40 and is more common in men than in women.

Most kidney cancers occur spontaneously, although some are associated with hereditary conditions, including von Hippel-Lindau disease and hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma. Potential risk factors include cigarette smoking, obesity and high blood pressure.