The good news for patients is that kidney cancer has a 5-year relative survival rate between 70-93 percent. Visiting your AUCNY urologist, getting screened and working with your primary care physician to develop a plan to help you stay healthy is one of our primary goals. Treating you after you have been diagnosed is another primary goal for those who have already developed kidney cancer.

Kidney cancer is a cancer that originates in one of the two kidneys which are located in the lower back on either side of the spine above the pelvis. It is one of the most common cancers with the lifetime risk of development being about 2% in men and 1% in women.

Risk factors associated with kidney cancer are smoking, obesity, high blood pressure (even if controlled), a family history of kidney cancer or certain inherited medical problems (especially a sibling), exposure to certain chemicals, being of certain ethnicities use of certain medications, and having advanced kidney disease (especially those needing dialysis). The risk increases as we age but both adults and children can develop cancer of the kidney although the resulting cancers are different types.