Trauma to kidney

  I was in a rear collision car accident on 3/10/98 in which my
  seat broke and I injured my back and bruised my right kidney.  I
  received therapy for my back and went for a follow-up MRI in
  December, 1998 (previous MRI was done in March).  This MRI showed
  a mass in my right kidney.  I subsequently had my kidney removed
  and there was a malignant mass removed.  I had been under a great
  deal of stress after the accident.  Could this accident and the
  stress have caused the mass in my kidney?  No one in my family
  has ever had cancer.

[hfhs M.D.-AK]

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Dear Kathy,
Trauma would have no effect on cancer.  The mass in your kidney did not grow overnight, it probably was there for several years if not longer.  The incidental discovery of this renal mass was probably lucky for you.  You can live without a kidney very well, but you can die from kidney cancer.  Most kidney cancers are found during xray examinations performed for other reasons.
I can