Benign tumours in the kidneys are rare and include adenoma, angioma and angiomyolipoma. Most tumours in kidneys are malignant and so it is a good rule to treat all tumours in the kidneys which are recognized clinically as malignant. These include renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma and other rare tumours like lymphoma. Among these, renal cell carcinoma is the commonest malignant tumour. It usually presents with haemturia, loin discomfort but sometimes can be very silent and presents with symptoms from metastatsis. Nephroblastoma usually occurs in children with age less than four. Due to the common use of ultrasound and CT scan, more and more kidney cancers are incidentally found. The therapy of choice is radical surgery removing the entire kidney, which is either open or laparoscopic. In selected cases, organ sparing surgery (partial removal of the kidney) is possible.
Early primary kidney cancers are often diagnosed by health checks with ultrasound of the urinary system. If you are suspected to have a renal mass, further tests may be provided after initial consultation with our urologists:
- Renal function test, complete blood count, serum albumin
- CT imaging of the kidneys
- Further CT, MRI or PET scan test depending on initial CT findings
- Radionuclide scan to look for separate functioning of the kidney involved
Source: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/281340-overview