Obesity, excessive use of drugs increases kidney cancer risk – Expert

Dr. Charles Oti, an Abuja-based Gynaecologist, on Tuesday said frequent use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen and Naproxen increases the risk of developing kidney cancer by 51 per cent.
Oti told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that persons who were overweight were at high risk of developing the life threatening condition.
He said although kidney cancer could be hereditary, persons who often engaged in excessive smoking put themselves at risk of developing the condition.
The expert said persons who had been infected by Hepatitis C and individuals who had undergone treatment for cervical or testicular cancer were also at risk.
Otis said: “There are several factors that predispose people to develop kidney cancer and most often they are unable to detect any signs or symptoms in the early stages of the disease.
“Some of the signs and symptoms one experiences when he or she is developing the condition is most often tiredness, loss of appetite, weight loss, excessive sweating and blood in the urine.
“Other signs are persistent pain in the abdomen, high body temperature and presence of a mass in the abdomen.
“People who experience one or more of these symptoms should consult a doctor.”
According to Oti, around 208,500 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed around the world every year.
The expert said the highest rates are in Northern America and the lowest in Asia and Africa.
He said the condition usually started in the cells of the kidney, adding that the two most common types of kidney cancer are Renal Cell Carcinoma and Urothelial Cell Carcinoma.
He said: “These cancers develop in different ways.
“That is the disease has different long term outcomes hence need to be treated in different ways.”
Oti said surgery was the treatment administered to persons with the condition, adding that the success rate of the surgery depended on how much the cancer had spread.
He said chemotherapy and radiotherapy was not used as treatment for kidney cancer as the cancel cells does not respond to the procedure.
NAN.