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Cancer Genetics

Renal Cell Cancer

05/31/2001

Question:

please explain to me what exactly is metastatic renal cell cancer?

Answer:

Renal carcinoma is a cancer of the kidney or upper urinary tract. It accounts for approximately 3% of cancer in adults. Renal tumors can be of five main types: clear cell, papillary, chromophobe, oncocytoma, and collecting duct. Clear cell carcinomas make up 85% of kidney cancers. Due to the high frequency of clear cell renal carcinomas, sometimes the name is jumbled together to get `renal cell carcinoma.`

Any kind of cancer can be `metastatic.` Metastatic cancer refers to cancer that has spread beyond its original site. It is usually used to refer to cancer that has gone beyond the local lymph nodes and spread to a distant site or into neighboring structures such as the muscle or bowel.

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Response by:

Judith A Westman, MD Judith A Westman, MD
Associate Professor, Clinical Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Medical Biochemistry
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University