If you have kidney cancer, finding random bruises on your body may be more common than you think. Bruising easily can be a symptom of kidney cancer itself or the result of certain kidney cancer treatments. However, bruising can also be caused by a number of other unrelated factors.

In this article, we’ll discuss possible causes of bruising with kidney cancer as well as when to let your cancer care team know about them.

How Can Kidney Cancer Lead To Bruising?

Both kidney cancer itself and treatment side effects can change the way your body handles bleeding and bruising.

Kidney Cancer Itself

While bruising isn’t among its most common symptoms, kidney cancer is notably one type of cancer that can cause this symptom.

Bruising in people with cancer is often related to a low platelet count. Platelets are the smallest type of blood cell. Their job is to help your blood vessels repair themselves when they get damaged.

If you don’t have enough platelets (a condition known as thrombocytopenia) or they aren’t working properly, it can be hard for broken blood vessels to be repaired. This can lead to more bleeding and bruising than you’d normally expect.

Liver Metastasis

Sometimes, cancer that starts in the kidneys can spread to the liver (liver metastasis). In fact, this is one of the more common places for kidney cancer to spread. Cancer in the liver, whether it started or spread there, can affect how platelets work.

Your liver produces a substance called thrombopoietin, which helps platelets grow. If cancer in the liver affects the products of this substance, you may not make enough platelets. Thus, kidney cancer that has spread to the liver can cause bruising, along with bleeding issues like nosebleeds or cuts that don’t stop bleeding.

How Can Kidney Cancer Treatments Lead To Bruising?

Some of the following kidney cancer treatment options are connected to an increased risk of bruising.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapies are cancer treatments designed to help your body’s immune system better fight cancer. Cancer cells are adept at bypassing your body’s defenses, but these treatments help prevent that from happening to help your body fight more effectively and efficiently.

Immunotherapy can affect your liver. While you might not usually notice symptoms, sometimes immunotherapy can lead to hepatitis (liver inflammation). Bleeding and bruising are common symptoms of hepatitis, along with fever, nausea, vomiting, very dark urine, pain on the right side of your abdomen, and jaundice (the yellowing of your skin and eyes).

Monoclonal antibodies, for example, are one type of immunotherapy often used to treat renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer. If a monoclonal antibody is part of your treatment plan, you may be likely to have bleeding issues, which can include bruising.

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapies work to destroy cancer cells without harming other cells at the same time. They’re common treatments for people living with later stages of kidney cancer.

Some of these medications can prevent your body from creating new blood vessels. This can make it more likely you’ll bruise. This isn’t common, but it’s something to know about and watch for if you’re receiving targeted therapy for kidney cancer.

Targeted therapies can also affect your platelets. This can cause problems with blood clotting and blood vessel healing, as discussed above for liver metastasis. If this happens, you may experience similar bleeding and bruising.

Chemotherapy and Radiation

Both chemotherapy and radiation treatment for kidney cancer can also cause problems with your platelets. Even though these aren’t as common in kidney cancer treatment plans, they may still be included.

These treatments often affect the growth of the cells that become platelets. While these cells usually grow quickly, the treatment can destroy them before they mature into platelets. When this happens, you may not have enough platelets and thus may experience bruising.

What Else Can Cause Bruises?

Bruising, even in someone diagnosed with kidney cancer, can also be caused by other factors. Anything that causes a blood vessel to break can lead to bruises, including:

• Getting injured or experiencing trauma to your body
• Taking medications unrelated to kidney cancer, including aspirin and steroids
• Having another disease that affects your platelets or blood clotting
• Being older and having more fragile skin

If you aren’t sure what’s causing your bruising, talk to a healthcare provider. They can help identify and address the underlying cause so you don’t bruise as often or easily.

Some of these causes could also make bruising related to kidney cancer worse. If your body is bruising because of cancer or cancer treatments, then getting injured, taking certain medicines, having another diagnosis, or having older skin could exacerbate it.

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How have you experienced bruising associated with kidney cancer? Let others know in the comments below.