Early detection improves survival rate for kidney cancer patients

More than 50,000 Americans will be diagnosed with kidney cancer this year, but these days, their odds of survival have improved thanks to earlier detection.

Doctors from the UC San Diego Cancer Center studied more than 200,000 kidney cancer cases from 1993 to 2004.

Over that time, the number of patients diagnosed with small, early stage tumors increased from 43 percent to 57 percent.

This is good news because the vast majority of early stage cases are curable. Around 88 percent. That number drops to just 23 percent for patients with late stage disease.

Kidney cancer is considered a silent killer because symptoms often aren’t noticeable until the tumor has grown, but doctors say the increased use of imaging tests such as MRI and ultrasound are likely helping to catch the cancers before they advance.

Experts say people shouldn’t have an imaging test just to look for kidney cancer, but if they are undergoing screening for another reason, any suspicious kidney mass should be promptly checked out by a urologist.