Kidney cancer begins in the kidneys. Cancer begins when healthy cells grow out of control in any area of the body, thus forming a lump.
The most common type of cancer is renal cell carcinoma in adults. It mostly begins in the renal tubules (tiny tubes), which clean the blood to make urine. This cancer stays within the kidney. It may spread to the brain, lungs, bones, and other parts of the body. Renal cancer is of various types. The most common type are papillary renal cell carcinoma, chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, and clear-cell carcinoma.
Kidney disease and kidney cancer are linked. People with kidney disease are at a higher risk of kidney cancer. Approximately 300,000 kidney cancer survivors in the country are likely to develop kidney disease. Mentioned below are some types of treatments commonly used to treat kidney cancer.
Common surgery
Common surgery entails removing the cancer with full or partial kidney removal. Other factors include your general health, age, and other factors. Surgery/nephrectomy is a common type of surgery. Stages I, II, III of kidney cancer can be cured by surgery. This method also has two types of nephrectomy like partial and radical.
Ablation
Thermal ablation is used to destroy the tumor. This is done by either heating or cooling the tumor. It is called cryoablation, which involves freezing, and radiofrequency ablation, which involves burning. It is used on people who have small tumors.
Small tumors are kept under inspection as they grow, and this is known as active surveillance. A few tumors are known to not have any symptoms. This will be helpful if you are old and suffer from problems like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. This surveillance is not used for young patients. They need to be watched by regular tests, imaging, and monitoring. You need to consult a urologist or a kidney specialist.
Medical treatment
People who suffer from an advanced stage of kidney cancer where it has spread to other parts of the body may be recommended a mix of medication, along with radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. Progress in the medical field has improved the chances of a person surviving far longer with renal cancer than 10 years ago. The following methods are mainly used for advanced stages of kidney cancer.
Immunotherapy makes use of the body’s natural ability to slow down or stop the growing cancer cells. Most of the drugs used have side effects.
Checkpoint inhibitors are classed as new drugs as they work with the body’s immune system to find and kill the cancer cells.
Targeted therapies refer to a class of medicines, which affect the cancer cells directly to stop their growth. These medications do not cure cancer at an advanced stage but will help you live longer.
Anti-angiogenic therapy helps to reduce the blood supply to the tumor, and stopping or slowing down the growth of cancerous cells.
In the initial stages, renal cancer does not cause any problems. However, as the tumor grows, you may lose weight, you may experience back pain that does not go away, and there may be blood in the urine. The survival rate of kidney cancer patients is around 75%. People usually are diagnosed when renal cancer is detected in one kidney.
