Clinical features

Many kidney cancers are picked up on ultrasound or Computed Tomography (CT) scans done for other reasons before they cause any noticeable symptoms. These are called ‘coincidental’ cancers.

The main symptom of kidney cancer is blood in the urine; this may be visible to the naked eye or picked up on dip stick testing – so-called microscopic haematuria (meaning blood in the urine). It is usually painless.

Particularly in more advanced cancer there may be other symptoms including:

• Pain in the kidney area
• Swelling in the kidney area
• Tiredness
• Weight loss
• High temperature and sweating
• Feeling generally unwell

Amended February 2009