Kidney Cancer Symptoms: Early Warning Signs and What to Look For

Early kidney cancer often causes no symptoms at all. When symptoms do appear, they can include blood in the urine, pain on the side of the lower back or a lump in the abdomen.

Yes, kidney cancer is often cured, especially when found early. Treatment includes surgery, ablation, chemotherapy or medications, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors, which work by blocking key proteins in cancer cells.

Benign kidney masses often cause no symptoms because they are typically found by accident on imaging that was ordered for something else. Cancerous tumors are more likely to cause symptoms such as weight loss, blood in the urine, flank pain or abdominal masses.

No, kidney cancer does not always cause pain, as the majority of kidney cancers do not cause any symptoms at all in their early stages. Pain is usually present once the kidney tumor grows large enough to obstruct the kidneys or has spread to other organs in the body.

The symptoms of UTIs and kidney cancer can overlap.

“Some patients with blood in the urine are treated repeatedly for a UTI when the real source of their bleeding is a tumor in the kidney or tumor in the bladder,” Jayram says.

Most patients with kidney cancer are found “accidentally” when they present with other, unrelated symptoms, Jayram says.

“Typically, patients undergo abdominal imaging for symptoms such as abdominal pain, gastrointestinal complaints or musculoskeletal issues,” he adds.

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