Kidney Cancer
Signs and Symptoms

In its early stages, kidney cancer usually causes no obvious signs or troublesome symptoms. As a kidney tumor grows, symptoms may occur. These may include:

• Blood in the urine. In some cases, blood is visible. In other instances, traces of blood are detected in a urinalysis, a lab test often performed as part of a regular medical checkup.
• A lump or mass in the kidney area.

Other less common symptoms may include:

• Fatigue
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Recurrent fevers
• Pain in the side that doesn't go away
• General feeling of poor health

High blood pressure or a lower than normal number of red cells in the blood (anemia) may also signal a kidney tumor. These symptoms occur less often.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.