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Who Is At Risk For Wilms Tumor & Is There A Blood Test For It?

When early cells of one’s kidney fail to develop into nephrons or glomeruli, clusters of various other cells in immature form may form within the kidneys whenever a child is born. These kidney cells mature when a kid completes his/her 3years or 4years of age. However, in some of the children, such cells grow out of control to form a mass consisting of various immature cells. Doctors refer to this mass of immature cells as Wilms tumor and it is always a cancerous type of tumor that occurred in children.

Who Is At Risk For Wilms Tumor?

Risk factor includes anything, which increases the chance of an individual to suffer from a disease, especially a tumor or cancer. If we talk about the risk factors related to Wilms tumor, we have found the following factors-

Age Of An Individual: Wilms tumors take place commonly in young kids, especially the ones between 3 years and 4 years ago. However, the problem is relatively less in old children and hardly occurs in adults.

Gender: Wilms tumors and cancers are common in females as compared to males.

Ethnicity Or Race: The risk of occurring Wilms Tumor is high in the children belonging to the African-American community as compared to those belonging solely to the United States. On the other side, the problem is the lowest among children belonging to the Asian-American community.

Family History: Approximately 2 or 3 percent of kids suffering from Wilms tumors have a few relatives with the same type of cancer. Medical experts perceive that such children inherit missing genes or abnormal chromosomes from any of the parents, which increases their risk related to developing the problem of Wilms tumors. Furthermore, kids with a family history associated with Wilms tumors are more likely to suffer from tumors in both of their kidneys.

Specific Genetic Syndromes: Other than the aforementioned risk factors, a majority of doctors have found specific genetic syndromes or birth defects as linked with Wilms tumors among children. Approximately 1 or 2 kids suffering from Wilms tumor have certain birth defects and the majority of the birth defects linked with the tumor in the form of syndromes. These include-

WAGR Syndrome: Kids with WAGR syndrome have approximately 30percent to 50percent to suffer from Wilms tumors. The cells in patients suffering from WAGR syndrome have missing parts of chromosome 11 and the WT1 gene is present instead. In fact, kids with WAGR syndrome are more likely to suffer from Wilms tumors during earlier ages and have tumors in both of their kidneys.

Denys-Drash Syndrome: If a child suffers from Denys-Drash syndrome, his/her kidneys fail to function because of disease even at a very young age. Wilms tumors thus develop in such diseased kidneys. As the risk related to Wilms tumor because of this syndrome is too high, doctors recommend the removal of diseased kidneys after diagnosing the syndrome.

Frasier Syndrome: Along with Denys-Drash syndrome, children with Frasier Syndrome remain at high risk to develop Wilms tumors. Besides this, these kids remain at high risk to develop cancers in their reproductive organs.

Is There A Blood Test For Wilms Tumors?

Whenever children fall sick, doctors recommend blood tests and urine tests as two basic tests to diagnose the problem. The same thing is applicable in the case of Wilms tumors, where doctors get the chance to learn about the general health of children and the respective type/stage/extent of the tumor in detail. Even though the collected blood and urine samples are unable to detect Wilms tumor, they help doctors to know about how well the patients’ kidneys work and reveal any specific kidney problem to cause Wilms tumor and low blood counts.

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Who Is At Risk For Wilms Tumor & Is There A Blood Test For It?