Kidneys are two bean-shaped organs, each about the size of your fist. They’re situated behind your intestines, with one kidney on each side of your spine. Their main job is to clean your blood by removing waste products and making urine. Kidney cancer starts in the kidneys. It happens when healthy cells in one or both kidneys go wild and form a lump (called a tumor). The most common type of kidney cancer is called Renal Cell Carcinoma. Fortunately, a large number of kidney cancers are found before they spread (metastasize) to far off organs. Furthermore, kidney cancers when caught early are easier to treat.
Symptoms:
There are rarely any signs or symptoms of kidney cancer in the initial stage. What’s more, at present, there are no standard tests used to screen for kidney cancer in the absence of symptoms. In the later stages, kidney cancer signs and symptoms may include:
Risk Factors:
Risk factors for kidney cancer include –
Diagnosis:
These days most of the kidney tumours are detected on a ultrasound scan which may have been done for some other reason, as most of the small kidney masses do not produce any symptoms in the initial period, in the past when ultrasound examinations were not readily available it was more difficult to pick up early kidney tumours. Once a mass has been detected, a contrast-enhanced CT scan of the chest and abdomen is performed to establish a diagnosis and to see, if the disease has spread beyond the kidney, very rarely an MRI scan may be used as an adjunct to help with the diagnosis. PET CT scans are of little or no value in establishing a diagnosis of kidney cancer and only add up the cost of treatment without providing any major benefits.
When we are unsure about the character of the renal mass a biopsy may be recommended, this is carried out under local anaesthesia under CT or Ultrasound guidance. Once a sample of tissue has been obtained, this is sent to the tested in the lab by a cancer pathologist for signs of cancer.
Treatment:
Post diagnosis, you can review an appropriate treatment option along with your doctors. Your best approach may depend on various factors like general health, stage of kidney cancer, and your treatment preference.
1. Surgery
Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for kidney cancer. More so these days with the advent of better technology kidney preserving surgery is the standard of care for curing kidney cancers. Following surgical procedures are used to treat kidney cancer –
The kind of medical procedure your doctor suggests will be based on your cancer and its stage, as well as your wellbeing. At the point when the cancer is limited to the kidney, surgery is the only treatment option — no medications or radiation are required. Routine follow-up is all that’s required.
2. Nonsurgical treatments
Some alternative methods to treat kidney cancer apart from surgery are –
These procedures may have advantages for certain patients and are a potential option for people who can’t have surgical procedures, although the long-term cancer cure rates with these procedures are inferior to having surgery.
Some kidney cancer that recurs and spread to other parts of the body may not be curable. It can be controlled with treatment. These treatments may include:
Be sure to discuss with your doctor the benefits, risks, and possible side effects of any treatment that you’re considering.
Dr. Saurabh Bhargava, Senior Consultant – Urology | Mazumdar Shaw Medical Center, Bommasandra
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