The value of ultrasonography in early detection of renal cell carcinoma.

Renal cell carcinoma is the third most frequent cause of urological cancer death in Japan. The first is bladder cancer and the second is prostatic cancer. However, there has been no clinical trial of mass screening for early detection of renal cell carcinoma. With a view to discovering a method of early detection for renal cell carcinoma, we analyzed the procedures for discovering renal cell carcinoma in 33 patients who were treated at our hospital. In 10 patients, carcinoma had been discovered accidentally without gross hematuria, abdominal mass or flank pain. Seven of these patients were first suspected of having renal cell carcinoma by ultrasonography, two by intravenous pyelography (IVP) and one by computed tomography. Seven out of nine patients operated on were surgically diagnosed as having stage I and two as having stage II. Ultrasonography is far better than IVP from the points of view of noninvasiveness, ease of performance and accuracy. In our study, ultrasonography was the most useful method for early detection of renal cell carcinoma. However, for the mass screening of renal cell cancer by ultrasonography, it is necessary to make its specificity and sensitivity clear and to debate its cost effectiveness.