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Posts Tagged ‘Kidneys’

Kidney cancer stage descriptions are an important tool your doctor can use to characterize the progression of a case of kidney cancer. By diagnosing the stage, the doctor is able to judge which possible treatment plans will best suit the patient’s needs.

Knowing the stage gives both the doctor and the patient a firm idea of how serious the disease has become and how much the cancer has spread beyond the kidneys. Are there cancer cells only in the kidney, or have cells spread to nearby lymph nodes, glands, or even to other organs of the body? With this in mind, you can understand why knowing the stage is necessary for making a prognosis and designing a treatment regimen.

There are a variety of evaluations made in assigning a stage to an individual’s kidney cancer. After looking at the diagnostic evidence and test results, a stage betweeen 1 and 4 will be assigned. It’s also possible the doctor will assign a Roman numeral to the stage, but this practice is usually done by medical professionals and not the general public.

Knowing the stage can also give kidney cancer patients a reasonably reliable way to guess survival rates (which are usually based on 5-year intervals). Each case has many variables, of course. But in general, it’s logical that someone in an early stage is more likely to survive longer than someone in a later stage.

Here’s how medical professionals evaluate the progress of kidney cancer and assign a stage to the case.

Stage 1 - The cancer is “localized,” meaning that no cancer cells have broken off and spread to surrounding tissues or organs. The size of the tumor is no more than 7 centimeters (about 2.8 inches).

Stage 2 - This is a stage in which the cancerous area has grown and is now larger than 2.8 inches or 7 centimeters. But cancerous cells have not spread to other organs or parts of the body. The cancer is still located only in a kidney.

Stage 3 - Danger is growing and treatment options become more complicated at this stage because cancer cells have spread. Typically, this means they can now be found in an adrenal gland (located above each kidney), a nearby major vein, or no more than one lymph node.

Stage 4 - At Stage 4, kidney cancer has reached a very dangerous point. The cancer has metastacized, meaning it has spread to other parts of the body and is affecting other tissues or possibly a distant organ. It can now also be found in more than one lymph node.

Assigning a stage to kidney cancer is not the only way to measure how serious it is. Medical professionals have also come up with a “grading” system. The grade is a way of describing how cancer cells look when placed under a microscope.

When normal cells and abnormal cells don’t look much different, they’ll be given a lower grade (lower, in this case, is good) But if the cancer cells look very different from the normal cells, they’ll receive a higher grade. Grade designations are important to know because they often indicate how quickly the cancer may spread. Cancers that receive a higher grade typically spread more quickly, and are therefore more dangerous.

The most important thing to remember about kidney cancer stages is their value in helping the doctor determine the best way to treat the disease.

Kidney cancer tends to happen to adults who are more than 50 years old. Twice as many men get kidney cancer as women. Research from the American Cancer Society tells us that 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with kidney cancer annually, and approximately 12,000 die from it.

Of course, everyone hopes these numbers will decrease as treatment methods improve and research gets closer to a cure. But until that happens, using the kidney cancer stage and grade systems will provide medical professionals with valuable tools in saving as many lives as possible.

Related topics: what are the stages of kidney cancer and kidney cancer info. Neal Kennedy is a former radio and television journalist. To read more of his articles, click on kidney trouble.

There are a lot of good reason for a person to cleanse harmful toxins that are in their body including relief from everyday aches and pains. By taking the time to detox the body systems, you will be giving the kidneys, liver and skin a tremendous boost. Message boards such as the biggest loser weight loss forum are full of people who have strong opinions about the pros and cons of undertaking a detox program.
Every day our bodies are bombarded with toxins through the effects of diet, pollution, food and drink. These are just the toxins we consume; it is felt also that stresses cause chemical reactions within our bodies, which in turn release poisons. Over a period of time, then, our bodily systems accumulate harmful toxins. A healthy detox is therefore required.
Many people say that a detox is not necessary, the body can adjust on its own. But there are also people who argue that the scope of toxins in today’s world is so large that the body can’t get rid of all of them naturally. Any additional assistance will give our bodies a boost. It is a common practice to treat a person medically by cleaning out the poisons that have built up in the body. Detox programs have played a big part in our health and well-being just like the idea of doing a six pack ab exercise program that we have been taught since our days in elementary school.
There can be certain indications at times that all is not well with our body. Our liver is said to be sluggish, for example, when we complain of digestive problems like constipation or bloating. There are some other things that also indicate issues with the liver. Our bodies need to work in harmony and if one system is not able to cleanse itself, other parts of the body could suffer also.
The removal of toxins from the body can also be beneficial to many organs and the respiratory and circulatory systems. Without the buildup of poisons someone can get a better night’s sleep, be more alert and be less likely to be affected by other viruses and bugs.
The key to a good detox plan is to make sure that you give the body everything that it needs to function properly. A good diet for detox is natural foods that are low in fat and sugar. Processed foods often contain a high level of unwanted chemicals that can be harmful to a body over a long period of time. Also, when you go shopping, buy better healthcare products.
One way to be safer with the food you eat is to realize that if it is prepackaged it probably has some harmful chemicals in it. Skip meals that are full of unhealthy processed ingredients. A person will feel better about themselves if they can eat things that are fresh and full of the nutrition that their body needs.
There are a lot of diets that a person can follow to cleanse their system. These include juice fasting, which involves drinking fruits and vegetables for up to three days. Some people try to fast and only drink water during that fast. Fasting allows your body to naturally detoxify itself and is a major help in removing toxins.
Of the many available ways for a healthy detox, then, do your research before purchasing products. You can find information in a lot of different places and it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. The internet can provide a wealth of information at sites such as http://www.fatlossfactor.com that will guide a person through the process.