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Patients & Visitors

Urology

D11

Kidney Cancer

Most people have two kidneys which filter the blood to remove waste products which are removed in the urine.

Kidney cancer is diagnosed in about 7 800 patients a year in the UK.  It more commonly affects men and is more common as people get older.  Rare kidney cancers do occur in children but this information relates to adult cancer.

Risk Factors

We don’t know exactly what causes kidney cancer but some things do increase the risk of developing the disease:

  • Smoking
  • Obesity
  • Occasionally they are inherited