What is kidney cancer?
Kidney cancer starts in the cells of the kidney. Approximately 90% of kidney cancers are renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which begins in cells that line tiny tubes in the kidney’s nephrons (filtering unit). Usually only one kidney is affected, but in rare cases both kidneys may develop cancer.
You can access further information about kidney cancer, including risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment from Cancer Council Victoria. You can also call our trusted cancer nurses on 13 11 20 for support and to learn about our range of services for people affected by cancer.
The Victorian Cancer Registry also operates an interactive web portal, Data Explorer, which provides more trends and statistics than published here.
How common is kidney cancer?
In 2021, 1039 Victorians were diagnosed with kidney cancer. Of these, there were 687 males and 352 females, representing 66.1% and 33.9% of the total Victorian kidney cancer diagnoses, respectively. Currently, kidney cancer is diagnosed at a rate of 13 per 100,000 males and 6.2 per 100,000 females. The median age at diagnosis of kidney cancer is 65 years in males and 67 in females (Figure 1 & 2). Accounting for 2.8% of all cancers diagnosed and 1.9% of all cancer-related deaths in 2021, kidney cancer was the 9th most commonly diagnosed cancer and the 18th most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Victoria.
Trends in kidney cancer over time
Figure 3 shows that since 1982 incidence of kidney cancer has increased by an average of 2.1% per year in males and increased by an average of 1.8% per year in females. Over the past 39 years, mortality from kidney cancer has decreased by 1.3% per year in males and decreased by 1.7% per year in females.
Kidney cancer morphology
Figure 4 provides a summary of the different types of cells (morphology) which have caused kidney cancer among all cases. Most kidney cancer tumours, 61.7%, present as Clear cell adenocarcinoma tumours.
Geographical variance in kidney cancer by local government area
Figure 5 demonstrates variation in age-standardised incidence rates of kidney cancer, by local government areas. Darker shading indicates areas with higher rates of kidney cancer.
Kidney cancer in people born overseas
Figure 6 shows the age standardised incidence rates of kidney cancer in Australian-born Victorians compared to other major migrant groups, over the five-year period 2017 to 2021. The highest age standardised incidence rate for kidney cancer was 18.5 for males born in the South and Central America region and the lowest rate of 8.3 was observed in males born in the North-East Asia region. The highest age standardised incidence rate for kidney cancer was 10.2 for females born in the North America region and lowest rate of 3.9 was observed in females born in the Southern and Central Asia region.
Kidney cancer five-year relative survival
Figure 8 shows the change in 5-year survival for kidney cancer, and the 5-year survival trend for all cancers over the same time period. It demonstrates that five-year relative survival has increased for kidney cancer between 1986-1990 and 2016-2020 from 51% to 82%.