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From Symptom to Specialist Care: Improving RCC Pathways

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for about 2.4% of all malignancies in adults, with rising cases globally.1 RCCs make up the majority (85%) of kidney cancers and are characteristically insidious in onset making diagnosis challenging.2 Further, symptoms can be vague, non-specific and delayed in onset.2 With various risk factors such as smoking, obesity, etc. and symptoms such as hematuria, flank pain and other paraneoplastic features, the key to improved survival is early diagnosis and prompt referral.1,3 Additionally, an interprofessional team approach is necessary for the patient’s physical and mental health, support and positive outcomes during recovery.3

  1. Makino, T., Kadomoto, S., Izumi, K., & Mizokami, A. (2022). Epidemiology and Prevention of Renal Cell Carcinoma. Cancers, 14(16), 4059. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14164059
  2. Vasudev, N. S., Wilson, M., Stewart, G. D., Adeyoju, A., Cartledge, J., Kimuli, M., Datta, S., Hanbury, D., Hrouda, D., Oades, G., Patel, P., Soomro, N., Sullivan, M., Webster, J., Selby, P. J., & Banks, R. E. (2020). Challenges of early renal cancer detection: Symptom patterns and incidental diagnosis rate in a multicentre prospective UK cohort of patients presenting with suspected renal cancer. BMJ Open, 10(5), e035938. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-035938
  3. Pandey, J., & Syed, W. (2025). Renal cancer. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK558975/
  4. Rose, T. L., & Kim, W. Y. (2024). Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Review. JAMA, 332(12), 1001. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.12848
  5. Shah, A., Lal, P., Toorens, E., Palmer, M. B., & Et., A. (2020). Acquired Cystic Kidney Disease–associated Renal Cell Carcinoma (ACKD-RCC) Harbor Recurrent Mutations in KMT2C and TSC2 Genes. American Journal of Surgical Pathology. https://doi.org/10.1097/PAS.0000000000001530
  6. Lynch, C., Harrison, S., Emery, J. D., Clelland, C., Dorman, L., Collins, C., Johansen, M.-L., Lawrenson, R., Surgey, A., Weller, D., Jarbøl, D. E., Balasubramaniam, K., & Nicholson, B. D. (2023). Variation in suspected cancer referral pathways in primary care: Comparative analysis across the International Benchmarking Cancer Partnership. British Journal of General Practice, 73(727), e88–e94. https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2022.0110
  7. Zeng, Y., Zhu, S., Wang, Z., Chen, J., Dai, J., Liu, Z., Sun, G., Liang, J., Zhang, X., Wang, Z., Zhao, J., Ni, Y., Yang, J., Wang, M., Wei, Q., Li, X., Chen, N., Li, Z., Wang, X., … Shen, P. (2023). Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) Discussion Improves Overall Survival Outcomes for Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, Volume 16, 503–513. https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S393457

AE-NON-00726 | Exp: 27 February 2028