What is the Purpose of our Kidneys?
Our kidneys serve many purposes, but they mainly do the following:
- Detoxify (clean) our blood
- Balance fluids
- Maintain electrolyte levels (e .g ., sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, acid)
- Remove waste (as urine)
- Make hormones that help keep our blood pressure stable, make red blood cells and keep our bones strong
What is a Kidney Mass?
A tumor, or mass, is an abnormal growth in the body. A kidney mass, or tumor, is an abnormal growth in the kidney. Some kidney masses are benign (not cancerous) and some are malignant (cancerous).
One in four kidney masses are benign. Smaller masses are more likely to be benign. Larger masses are more likely to be cancerous. Some tumors may grow slowly while some can be faster growing – or more aggressive. Aggressive tumors may form, grow and spread very quickly.
Most kidney growths (about 40%) are small, localized masses. Localized means that the tumor has not spread – from where it first started. The main classes of tumors are:
- Renal cell carcinomas (RCC). These are the most common malignant kidney tumors. They are found in main substance of the kidney, where the filtering occurs. RCC may form as a single tumor within a kidney or as two or more tumors in one kidney.
- Benign kidney tumors. About 20% of tumors removed from kidneys are benign. There are about nine named tumors in this class. Some can grow quite large but they are almost always non-cancerous and do not spread to other organs.
- Wilms tumors. Wilms tumors almost always occur in children and are rarely found in adults.
