Can Polycystic Kidney Disease Lead to Cancer

Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a group of diseases featured by dilatation of the tubular units of the kidney. The renal tubules are responsible for processing the 140 liters of fluid filtered by the glomerulus. Cystic tubules fail to function well, causing fluid retention, hypertension, and Renal Failurerequiring dialysis or a transplant. Well, can PKD lead to cancer?

Medical professionals describe two major inherited forms of Polycystic Kidney Disease and a non-inherited form:

▪ Autosomal dominant PKD-the most common inherited form. Symptoms often develop between the ages of 30 and 40, but they can begin earlier, even in childhood.

▪ Autosomal recessive PKD is a rare inherited form. Symptoms may begin in the earliest months of life, even in the womb.

▪ Acquired cystic kidney disease (ACKD) develops in association with long-term kidney problems, especially in patients who have kidney failure and who have been on dialysis for a long time. It tends to occur in later years of time, and it is not an inherited form of PKD.

ACKD affects patients with chronic renal failure and causes hematuria, erythrocytosis (increase in red blood cells), and is associated with the development of kidney cancer. With kidney cancer, other symptoms may include a lump or mass in the side or the abdomen, weight loss, fever, fatigue, etc.

Other proposed risk factors for developing kidney cancer includes:

1. Smoking. Kidney cancer may be caused due directly to smoking, and it doubles the risk of developing cancer.

2. Long-term kidney failure. In this case, some patients receive dialysis over a long period of time, and may develop cysts in the kidneys. So kidney cancer may develop from the cells that line these cysts.

3. People who are overweight and eat a high-fat diet have a greater risk.

4. Adults between the ages of 50 to 70 years.

5. Men have double risk than women.