What is the most common type of renal cancer?

Most Common Renal Cancer

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer, accounting for approximately 80-90% of all renal malignancies, with clear cell RCC (ccRCC) being the predominant histological subtype. 1

Epidemiological Context

• RCC represents the 7th most common cancer in men and the 10th most common cancer in women, accounting for approximately 5% and 3% of all adult malignancies respectively 1
• Among all kidney cancers (which include both renal parenchymal tumors and urothelial cancer of the renal pelvis), RCC specifically accounts for approximately 80% of cases 1
• The remaining 10-20% of kidney cancers include urothelial carcinomas of the renal pelvis and other rare malignancies 1

Histological Subtypes of RCC

The major histological subtypes with ≥5% incidence include: 1

• Clear cell RCC (ccRCC): The most common subtype, accounting for the majority of RCC cases and responsible for most kidney cancer-related deaths 1
• Papillary RCC (pRCC): The second most common subtype 1
• Chromophobe RCC (chRCC): The third major subtype 1

Less Common Subtypes

• Rare subtypes each account for ≤1% of total incidence and include collecting duct, medullary, and other variants 1
• Unclassified RCC (uRCC) represents approximately 4% of cases when tumors do not fit established diagnostic criteria 1

Clinical Significance

• In metastatic disease, clear cell histology predominates even more dramatically, representing 83-88% of cases 1
• Due to the overwhelming predominance of clear cell histology in advanced disease, non-clear cell RCC subtypes are often grouped together as "nccRCC" for clinical trial feasibility 1