Kidney Cancer Treatment - Cryoablation

Most people are born with two bean shaped kidney organs. In the middle of the back, kidneys are located, and just below the rib cage on either side of the spine. Kidneys weigh about 0.5 percent of total body weight or the size of a fist. If one kidney is removed, the remaining one will enlarge within a few months to take over the function of other kidney. Kidneys function to filter blood (Outer layer of each kidney is called the cortex, which contains filtering units for blood), produce urine, ensuring that body tissue receives enough water, regulate blood pressure, stimulate the making of red blood cells (Kidneys secrete a hormone called erthropoietin which stimulates and controls the body's red blood cell production), and maintain body's calcium and vital salts in the blood (Regulating salts level through the production of an enzyme called renin). Twenty percent of the blood, pumped by the heart enters the kidneys from the renal artery. The opening area where upon blood enters the kidney is called the hilus. Every minute, more than one quarter (about one liter) of blood goes to the kidneys. Blood enters the kidney through the cortex, where upon the artery branches (nephrons) into one million tiny filtering units. The processed blood in the kidneys, removed through the renal vein. Wastes and other unwanted substances are removed through the urine (Urine appears yellow because it contains urochrome). Urine flows from the kidneys through the uterus to the bladder. Urine in stored in the bladder (holds about half a liter or two cups of urine at any given time), until it is excreted from the body through the urethra. When the bladder is full, nerve endings in the wall of the bladder will send impulses to the brain, ready to urinate. Urine passes through the urethra and then exists either through the male penis or female vaginal opening. Medical conditions can affect the function of the kidneys and urinary tract, including kidney cancer.