Rising Incidence of Renal Cell Cancer in the United States

Abstract

Malignant tumors of the kidney account for more than 2% of cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, with nearly 30,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths estimated for 1998.¹ More than 80% of kidney cancers arise in the renal parenchyma, with the remainder in the renal pelvis.² Nearly all kidney cancers originating in the renal parenchyma are adenocarcinomas (renal cell carcinomas), whereas the vast majority of renal pelvis cancers are transitional cell carcinomas.