Welcome to the Kidney Cancer Training Programme.
Kidney cancer falls into the category of rare cancers.
In males in the UK, kidney cancer is the 5th most common cancer, with around 8,800 annual new cases between 2017-2019. In females in the UK, kidney cancer is the 10th most common cancer, with around 5,100 annual new cases between 2017-2019.
Overall, Kidney cancer is the 6th most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 4% of all new cancer cases between 2017-2019. This is around 13,900 annually, equating too 38 new cases daily [1]. There were more than 434,840 new cases of kidney cancer globally in 2022.[2] Renal cell carcinoma is the 14th most common cancer worldwide.[2] Over the last decade, Kidney cancer incidence rates have increased by more than 28% in the UK[1]. Cancers of the kidney result from the malignant transformation of the renal substance (parenchyma) itself.
This course will only focus on the management of carcinomas of the renal parenchyma – renal cancer. Note: the term renal cancer and kidney cancer are used interchangeably throughout the course.
The overall 10 year survival rate was 55.6%(that’s 6 in 10 people) for renal cancer in 2017-2019[1], but is very dependent on the stage at diagnosis and the histological grade as well as the person’s other comorbidities. With recent advances in renal cancer drug treatments, patients with metastatic disease will survive longer, meaning they will be building longer and meaningful therapeutic relationships with their specialist teams. It is therefore essential that those within the team have knowledge of the disease and its treatment, to provide a high standard of care for this group of patients.
Completing this course should count towards your CPD hours for re-validation with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
References:
1: Cancer research UK – Kidney Cancer incidence: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/kidney-cancer#heading-Zero Accessed in Oct 2025.
2: WCRF kidney cancer statistics https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/kidney-cancer-statistics/ Accessed in Oct 2025