The kidneys are a pair of organs found in the human body that form a part of the waste disposal system. The kidneys receive blood that contains a variety of useful and toxic material and filters this blood to eliminate the toxic material. This toxic material, along with some water is passed out of the kidney into the urinary bladder where it waits to be disposed of through the process of urination. The kidneys also produce some hormones which are used to regulate various functions of the body. Re-absorption also takes place in the kidney where some of the waste material in the blood is absorbed back into the body for use. This includes water. The kidneys thus perform a vital function of saving the body from toxic material. When the kidneys fail, a person will suffer from having many toxic materials in his or her bloodstream and a process known as dialysis is required. Dialysis passes the person's blood through a filtration system so that the toxic materials are removed. This is done regularly at a hospital or clinic. Kidney failure is a lifestyle altering problem which affects a person's normal body function. The kidneys are unique in the fact that the body can function fairly normally if one kidney is removed as the other organ will take care of the filtration process.
Kidney cancer is a form of cancer that has begun in the kidney. Other cancers may spread to the kidney, but those are named by the location where the initial problem began. Kidney cancers are either those of the kidney itself or those of the urinary bladder which forms a part of the kidney group of organs. Kidney cancer is a little odd because it may not present with any serious symptoms until the condition has progressed considerably. This makes early detection difficult and in a majority of cases, early detection occurs when testing is being conducted for other unrelated conditions. The best way to diagnose cancer in the kidneys is by imaging techniques that look for a tumor which would appear as a different colored mass on the organ in any scan. A few symptoms could be associated with kidney cancer and these include abnormally colored urine, pain around the kidney, and an abdominal mass. These three occur together only in a few cases, usually in the more advanced ones.
Any suspicious change in the urine condition is a good reason to test for kidney cancer.
Submitted by M T on May 10, 2010 at 04:08