Concept and Etiology:
Wilms’ tumor also known as nephroblastoma, is a type of kidney
cancer that affects children. Usually occurs first five years of life
being the most common kidney cancer of childhood. The tumor is
mostly nonhereditary and mostly the result of a mutation in the
kidney at birth. The deviance from health is that in the kidney, the
cells mutate causing tumors on the kidney and illness on the urinary
system (Rosenblum et al., 2019).
Classification: The stages of Wilms tumor are like other cancer
stages. The stages go from one to five. Cancer has an 85-100
histology survival rate. At a Focal Anaplastic (within the renal tumor
and not the surrounding cells) is between 70% to 100% depending
on the stage, the higher the stage the decrease in survival. At
Diffuse Anaplastic (in which the tumors are outside the renal tumor
and surrounding cells) the survival rate is 30 % to 85% again based
on the stage of cancer (American Cancer Society, 2021b).
Clinical Manifestations (Symptoms and Signs):
Mass on Abdomen
Stomach pain
Blood in urine
Loss of appetite
Weight loss
Diagnostic Tests:
Ultrasound
Cat Scan
Blood work (that may show Erythrocytosis (a condition where there
are too many red cells in the blood) (Rosenblum et al., 2019).
References
American Cancer Society. (2021a). Risk Factors for Wilms Tumors.
Www.cancer.org.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/wilms-tumor/causes-risks-
prevention/risk-factors.html
American Cancer Society. (2021b). Survival Rates for Wilms Tumors.
Www.cancer.org.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/wilms-tumor/detection-diagnosis-
staging/survival-rates.html
Rosenblum, L., Abouzied, M., & Knight, J. (2019). Wilms’
Tumor. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.
Rosenblum, L. M., Abouzied, M., MD, & Knight, J. A., PhD. (2019).
Wilms’ tumor. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health.
