RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The epidemiology of kidney cancer is evolving with a net increase in the incidence of renal tumors, globally, and in young people in particular. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence and clinical and pathological characteristics of sporadic renal tumors in young subjects and their risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study aimed at collecting clinical, epidemiological and anatomopathological information from the 118 patients aged 18 to 40 treated for a sporadic kidney tumor in two Parisian university hospital centers between 2003 and 2013. RESULTS: Our study showed a very significant increase in the incidence of renal tumors in our 11 years of decline (P=6.10-15). The mode of discovery also seems to have evolved with a majority of tumors (67 %), due to the considerable growth of imaging in recent decades. We also showed a different pathological distribution compared to the literature with a significant increase in the number of papillary tumors (16.9 %) and chromophobes (15.2 %), in addition to a decrease in the number of carcinomas (43.2 %) as well as the appearance of a new pathological entity of particular clinical severity: renal carcinoma related to translocation Xp11.2 (15.3 %) (P<10-5). Among the risk factors, hypertension seems to be a definite risk factor while tobacco and obesity do not have a significant influence. CONCLUSION: Our study showed a marked increase in the incidence of renal tumors with specific clinical and epidemiological features in a population of young subjects. The role and importance of oncogenetic management as well as the study of environmental factors could lead to the identification of new risk factors and corollary to their prevention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.