Kidney Cancer

Kidney cancer is the result of cancer cell developing in the tissues of the kidney. There are several types of kidney cancer, including renal cell carcinoma, renal pelvis carcinoma, and Wilms' tumor, which is the type of kidney cancer that develops in children under 5 years of age. It is a disease that most often develops in adults over 40 years of age; males are more likely than females to be diagnosed with kidney cancer.

It is estimated that in 2008 there will be 54,390 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,010 kidney-cancer-related deaths in the United States. Several widely accepted risk factors include gender, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, long-term dialysis, Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, and occupational hazards.

Treatment options for kidney cancer may vary depending on the stage of the disease, the patient's age, whether the cancer is newly diagnosed or recurrent, and other medical conditions, and should be discussed with the patient's physician.

Kidney Cancer Clinical Trials

The Center for Cancer Research (CCR), NCI's largest division doing research on campus, conducts kidney cancer clinical trials at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md. NCI accepts referrals to kidney cancer clinical trials conducted in Bethesda, Md., through its Clinical Trials Referral Office (formerly the Clinical Studies Support Center) at 1-888-NCI-1937 (1-888-624-1937).

NCI is currently conducting the following trials for patients with kidney cancer. Click on the trials below for additional details, including a summary of eligibility criteria, treatment plan, and information on how to contact the principal investigators and their staff directly.