Patient Resources

Superior Survival Rates, Stage-for-Stage

Five-year survival rates for UTSW patients with kidney cancer, broken down by stage and compared to national averages [SEER database, 2010-2021].

Types of Kidney Cancer

Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC)

  • Clear Cell – 70%
  • Papillary – 15%
  • Chromophobe – 5%
  • Translocation – 1-5%
  • Unclassified and other less frequent subtypes - 5-10%

Risk Factors

  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • Industrial and other chemicals - trichloroethylene, aristolochic acid, and cadmium
  • Gender – twice as frequent in men
  • Age – average age, 64
  • Advanced kidney disease
  • High blood pressure
  • Genetic conditions, such as von Hippel-Lindau syndrome or germline BAP-1 mutations (as discovered by our own investigators)

Stages

  • Stage 1 - Tumor is smaller than seven centimeters (size of a tennis ball) and confined to the kidney
  • Stage 2 – Still confined to the kidney, but the tumor is larger
  • Stage 3 – Tumor invades neighboring blood vessels, surrounding fat, or spreads to nearby lymph nodes
  • Stage 4 – Tumor spreads beyond