Wilms by the Numbers
Key Facts
Wilms (or ‘nephroblastoma’) is the most common type of kidney cancer in children.
About 1 in 10,000 diagnosed with the disease each year in North America. Overall around 7,500 children under the age of 18 suffer from Wilms at any given time and about 190,000 worldwide.
Often beginning in the womb with the tumour growing on the kidney with the most common symptom being a sudden swollen stomach. Eventually the tumor becomes much bigger than the kidney itself and both usually require removal. Later stage Wilms can spread to other parts of the body including the lungs, liver and bones.
th
most common childhood cancer (2)
5/100
9/10
of all childhood kidney cancers are Wilms (4)
1/10,000
children are at risk from Wilms (5)
600-700
new cases of Wilms in North America per yr. (6)
55%
diagnosed with Wilms after it has spread (7)
190,000
children suffer Wilms worldwide per yr. (9)
$100
cost of early detection of Wilms (one-time) (11)
late detection treatment cost (per yr.) (12)
more per day to treat children with cancer (13)