Kidney cancer can be hard to detect because patients aren’t usually tested unless they show the symptoms, which often include lower back pain, chronic fatigue, unexplained weight loss and blood in the urine. “Because the kidneys are so deep inside the body, small kidney tumours cannot be seen or felt during an annual physical exam,” explains Dr Chris Fikry, vice president of oncology at Quest Diagnostics. “Additionally, there are no recommended screening tests for kidney cancer in people who are not at increased risk.” Patients who have certain inherited conditions that trigger tumour and cancer growths, such as Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma, and Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome have a higher risk of kidney cancer. Doctors may choose to recommend that these patients get regular imaging tests such as a computerised tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look for kidney tumours.