What Are The Four Kidney Cancer Stages?

Kidney cancer stage descriptions are a standard means of recognizing how far a case of kidney cancer has progressed. Once a stage has been assigned, the doctor can begin to evaluate the best means for treatment.

Kidney cancer stages are basically a numeric way of expressing how serious the case is and how far cancer cells have spread. The doctor needs to know whether cancer cells are confined to the kidneys, or have they spread to the adjacent adrenal glands, lymph nodes, or even to distant organs and tissues in the body. It’s easy to understand why this knowledge is the key to determining a prognosis and designing the best possible course of action to bring about a cure.

A number of factors are considered in determining a kidney cancer stage designation. Typically, a number between one and four will be assigned after a diagnosis has been made with the help of tests and other information. Medical professionals sometimes use a system of Roman numerals from I to IV in assigning a stage.

Knowing the stage can also give kidney cancer patients a reasonably reliable way to guess survival rates (which are usually based on 5-year intervals). It’s impossible to predict every individual case, of course. But doesn’t it make sense that someone with Stage 1 kidney cancer (the “mildest” stage) will survive for a longer time that someone in Stage 4 (the most serious stage)?

Stages are assigned to kidney cancer based on the following information about the disease.

Stage 1 – The cancer is “localized,” meaning that no cancer cells have broken off and spread to surrounding tissues or organs. The size of the tumor is no more than 7 centimeters (about 2.8 inches).

Stage 2 – At this stage, the cancer is still located only in the kidney, but it has grown larger than 2.8 inches.

Stage 3 – Danger is growing and treatment options become more complicated at this stage because cancer cells have spread. Typically, this means they can now be found in an adrenal gland (located above each kidney), a nearby major vein, or no more than one lymph node.

Stage 4 – Stage 4 is, of course, the most dangerous stage. Treatment will be more complicated. Cancer cells have now spread to more than one lymph node and may be present other organs and distant parts of the body.

Assigning a stage to kidney cancer is not the only way to measure how serious it is. Medical professionals have also come up with a “grading” system. Grade is determined by placing malignant cells under a microscope and comparing their appearance to normal kidney cells.

When normal cells and abnormal cells don’t look much different, they’ll be given a lower grade (lower, in this case, is good) However, when there’s a big difference in appearance between normal cells and abnormal cells, a higher grade will be designated. Grade determinations are an indicator of how aggressive the cancer is and how fast it is probably going to spread. Cancer cells that are designated with a higher grade usually spread faster. This makes them more dangerous.

The most important thing to remember about kidney cancer stages is their value in helping the doctor determine the best way to treat the disease. .

Kidney cancer occurs most often in adults who have reached 50 years of age, and it occurs twice as often to men as it does to women. Kidney cancer accounts for approximately 12,000 deaths every year in the United States, according to statistics released by the American Cancer Society. 30,000 new cases are diagnosed annually.

Hopefully, as research toward finding a cure goes forward, these numbers will come down. But until then, the kidney cancer staging system will provide doctors with information they need to make important treatment decisions – and save as many lives as possible in the process.

Related topics: kidney cancer stages and kidney cancer. Neal Kennedy is a retired radio and TV reporter. To read more of his articles, click on Kidney Problems.