5 important things to do before kidney cancer treatment
If you have been diagnosed with cancer in one of your kidneys, you may lose that kidney. But is the other at risk? Cleveland Clinic, Urologist Dr. Luckily for many patients, the cancer doesn’t tend to spread to the other kidney, and you don’t have to lose a kidney, Rajan Ramanathan said. It is rare for cancer to move from one kidney to another.
- There are three ways that cancer can spread throughout the body: Spreading through the lymphatic system to nearby lymph nodes.
- Via blood circulation. This usually results in the adrenal glands, liver, lungs, brain and sometimes bones.
- Spread to nearby organs.
Because the kidneys are not next to each other, the chance of cancer passing from one to the other is low. However, the likelihood of the cancer spreading to another organ depends on its size and growth rate. Dr. Large or rapidly growing tumors are more likely to spread to other parts of the body, Ramanathan said.
Changed urine color may be a sign of kidney cancer
What should you be prepared for if you have kidney cancer?
Kidney cancer management consists of two categories:
- active surveillance
If your doctor thinks the tumor is benign or considers surgery risky due to advanced age or other health conditions, he or she may follow this path.
During surveillance, every six to nine months, your doctors will look at the tumor with imaging, to see if the tumor has remained the same size. A CAT scanner is generally used here.
- Operation
The typical treatment for younger, healthy patients is surgery.
Dr. Ramanathan states that he currently treats 90% of his patients through minimally invasive partial kidney surgery. In this method, the tumor and a small part of the surrounding kidney are removed.
Paradigm change in kidney cancer treatment…
If the tumor is very large or the kidney seems too difficult to rebuild, your doctor may treat it with radical kidney surgery. In this procedure, the surgeon removes the tumor, kidney, and surrounding structures.
Alex Huynh
Hi, I'm Alex Huynh, an expert in the field of mesothelioma. I have worked in this field for more than 10 years. With my experience and knowledge in this field, I decided to set up a website mesothelioma media to help people treat mesothelioma.
DO YOU HAVE A COMMENT?