Treatment for Kidney Cancer

Kidney cancer, or renal cell cancer, is normally found as a large mass in one kidney. Sometimes it spreads to both kidneys, or it may present as small tumors scattered throughout both kidneys. Usually, your doctor will find this type of cancer before it spreads to other organs. There are several options for treatment.

Surgery

• Many times surgery is the best option to treat kidney cancer. Your surgeon may decide to remove an entire kidney, just the cancer and surrounding tissue, or the kidney and the adrenal gland.

Radiation Therapy

• Your doctor may use radiation therapy to treat kidney cancer. Internal radiation sends radiation through wires or needles into the body, while external radiation uses machines outside the body to kill the cancerous cells.

Chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill the cancer cells or to stop them from dividing. Depending on the stage of cancer, your doctor may inject drugs directly into the affected organ, or he may administer them to you orally or intravenously.

Biologic Therapy

• Another type of treatment uses your own immune system to fight the cancer. Laboratories use substances your body makes to revive its natural protection against cancer.

Stem Cell Transplant

• As of July 2009, stem cell transplants are done mainly in clinical trials. Doctors take stem cells from a donor's bone marrow and give them to the patient, where they develop into healthy blood cells.