What Conditions Are Associated With Renal Medullary Carcinoma?
More Programs and Publications Featuring Dr. Kimryn Ratthmell
In this program:
What are some known conditions linked with renal medullary carcinoma? Watch as expert Dr. Kimryn Rathmell from Vanderbilt University Medical Center explains conditions that can be RMC risk factors and those that she examines further in patients to rule out RMC.
Transcript
Dr. Kimryn Rathmell:
So on the risk side, we used to think that it was only sickle cell trait, it's very clear the sickle cell disease, so having two copies of the sickle cell hemoglobin and other hemoglobinopathies like thalassemias, so some of the thalassemias can also be associated, so that's on the risk side. Renal medullary carcinoma particularly because it happens in such a young age, doesn't tend to be accompanied by many other serious medical problems, but it can come along with some kidney damage, so some early chronic renal failure, and probably can be linked with some hypertension, that's actually much more common in the renal cell carcinomas. So we actually think that some of those forces in the kidney, so we know that the kidneys are very tightly linked to high blood pressure, I think if I can get that message out that hits a broad, broad audience, hypertension and kidneys, but the factors in the kidney that drive high blood pressure probably more in the cortex, so we see less of that with renal medullary carcinoma, but you can see a little bit. The factor of having the tumor in the kidney, pressing on the kidney itself can push someone into a hypertensive state, so I guess I'll add that to the list, it's not typically what we think about. But if I saw a young person who had a known sickle trait, genetic background, who had unexplained hypertension, I would be looking at their kidneys and that would be standard anyway, just to take a look at what we might be driving that hypertension and a young person. But being an oncologist, I would be particularly wanting to check that box and make sure I didn't see a cancer there.
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