• Rapid and unexplainable weight loss.
• Chronic fatigue in the body.
• Fever
• Swelling in the leg and the ankles.
• Passage of blood along with urine that can either be detected by naked eyes or through microscopically.
• Continual pain in the lower back or in the sides.
• Formation of mass or lump in the abdomen region.

You should get yourself checked if any of these symptoms appear. Also, these symptoms are also the known symptoms for certain other diseases. Thus getting a diagnosis is  extremely important.

Diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma: Diagnosis of kidney cancer is extremely important. In a few patients, the disease is diagnosed before the cancer is spread to the other parts of the body, while the other patients might not be as lucky enough in getting the disease diagnosed in the right time. Thus, it gets extremely important to diagnose it rightly in the early stages itself before its spreads across the other parts of the body. The doctor may examine you and ask a list of important tests to be performed which may be inclusive of:

• Simple physical examination.
• Urine tests.
• Blood tests.
• CT scan.
• Ultrasound
• Biopsy
• PET scan
• Bone scan, etc.

Treatment:

Learning about kidney cancer is extremely essential as it helps us diagnose and take the right decision at the right time which thus saves our life. However, the treatment of kidney cancer is near about similar to the treatment that is provided to the other types of cancer.

The treatment in the initial stages may include of a surgery or an arterial embolization. However, other treatments such as the radiation therapy, chemotherapy or the biological therapy can be performed. Along with these genuine treatments, a patient may also follow the treatment for controlling the immense pain caused by the disease and its treatment. This is known as supportive care.

Radiotherapy uses high energy rays to specifically kill the cancer cells in the body. While, on the other hand, the biological therapy and the chemotherapy are two systemic therapies which use certain drugs to pass through the bloodstream. Biological therapy mainly uses the natural ability of the body to strongly fight the cancer. Chemotherapy which is also used against the different types of cancer is usually avoided for the kidney cancer as it may induce more stress and pain in the kidney. Thus, based on the condition of the patient, the treatment is decided by the doctors.