Kidney cancer

Diagnosis

In order to diagnose kidney cancer, the following procedures may be recommended:

• Blood test: There is no blood tests that can diagnose kidney cancer, but there are those that can help indicateproblems with kidney function such as complete blood count (CBC) and blood chemistry.
• Urinalysis: the test will determine if the urine have blood (hematuria).
• Diagnostic imaging procedure: includes Computerized Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This is to create a detailed imaging of the structure inside the body to accurately show the abnormal masses in the kidney. It can show the size, shape, location and determine the extent of the cancer.
• Tissue biopsy – Tissue sample is a procedure which removes a kidney sample for testing in the laboratory.

Staging

Once the specialist confirmed the diagnosis of kidney cancer, then the following step is to know the extent (stage) of the cancer. The stages of cancer are indicated by Roman numerals ranging from I to IV. The lowest stage indicates a cancer is isolated within kidneys. The highest stage – stage IV – indicates that the cancer had spread and it is so called advanced stage.

Treatment

The type, location and stage of cancer are some of the factors which can affect how to choose appropriate treatment to apply aside from the general health and personal choice of treatment. Treatment options would be discussed with the specialist.

Treatment for kidney cancer is commonly start by surgical removal of the cancer. However, if the cancer reaches advance stage then additional treatment are needed.

Surgical treatment:

• Partial nephrectomy: is a procedure to removes only part of kidney that has tumors.
• Radical nephrectomy: is a procedure to remove the whole kidney and surrounding fat and lymph nodes.

When the patient had one kidney remove, the remaining kidney could still function properly.

Nonsurgical treatment:

• Cryoablation: The doctor uses a cryoprobe which is an instrument that contains cold gas with the assistance of an ultrasound imaging to apply extremely cold temperature into the kidney cancer to eradicate the tumor.
• Radiofrequency ablation: A needle is inserted through the skin into the kidney then an electrical current is used to destroy the cancer cells. Ultrasound is used to guide the doctor and see the image where a thin needle will be inserted inside the body to reach for the tumor.
• Radiation Therapy: Cancer cells are targeted using X-rays and protons with high energy beams to shrink the tumor. This treatment may be applied if other treatments have failed or for advanced stage kidney cancer to relieve symptoms.
• Targeted Drug Therapy: The treatment may be used in the treatment of advanced cancer when surgery treatments is not an option.
• Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy uses the body’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells. Cancer cells produce proteins to disguise themselves so that the body’s own immunity wouldn’t attack them. Immunotherapy counteracts this disguise process of the tumor so that the body can detect and fight against the cancer cells. This therapy may be applied on advanced stage kidney cancer.