Renal Cell Carcinoma: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Renal Cell Carcinoma: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Your Guide to
Renal Cell Carcinoma
From there, he’ll do some tests that could include:
If the results show that you have renal cell carcinoma, your doctor will find out what stage it’s in, so you can decide on the best treatment options. The stage of cancer depends on how large your tumor is and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body. You may have tests to take a closer look inside your chest and belly, like:
There are a few different ways doctors can treat renal cell carcinoma. You may need to try several before finding one that works. The best plan for you depends on the stage of your cancer, how healthy you are overall, and any side effects you might have. Your options may include:
Renal Cell Carcinoma
Getting a Diagnosis continued...
Your Guide to
Renal Cell Carcinoma
- What Is Renal Cell Carcinoma?
- Causes
- Symptoms
- Getting a Diagnosis
- Questions to Ask Your Doctor
- Treatment
- Taking Care of Yourself
- What to Expect
- Getting Support
From there, he’ll do some tests that could include:
- Urine tests
- Blood tests
- Tests to see how well your liver is working
- Ultrasound, which uses sound waves to make a picture of the organs inside your body
- CT scan, a test that uses a powerful X-ray to make detailed pictures inside your body
- Nephrectomy, when doctors remove part of one of your kidneys, or sometimes the whole kidney, to check it for renal cell carcinoma. You’ll have this test if your doctor has already spotted a tumor, but doesn’t know if it’s cancer.
If the results show that you have renal cell carcinoma, your doctor will find out what stage it’s in, so you can decide on the best treatment options. The stage of cancer depends on how large your tumor is and whether the cancer has spread to other parts of your body. You may have tests to take a closer look inside your chest and belly, like:
- Chest X-ray
- CT scan
- MRI, which uses powerful magnets and radio waves to make pictures of the inside of your body
- Bone scan
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
- What stage is my cancer? What does that mean for me?
- Do I need any more tests?
- Do I need to see any other doctors?
- Have you ever treated this kind of cancer before?
- What kinds of treatments are there? Which would you recommend?
- How will those treatments make me feel?
- When should I start treatment?
- How will we know if it works?
- What will my recovery be like?
- What would you expect for me?
- Are there any clinical trials I can sign up for?
Treatment
There are a few different ways doctors can treat renal cell carcinoma. You may need to try several before finding one that works. The best plan for you depends on the stage of your cancer, how healthy you are overall, and any side effects you might have. Your options may include:
- Surgery to remove part or all of the kidney
- Biologic drugs, which boost your body’s own defenses to fight cancer cells. You might take drugs like interleukin-2 or interferon-alfa.
- Targeted therapy -- treatments that attack specific things cancers need to survive, like a tumor’s blood vessels or certain proteins. These include sorafenib (Nexavar), sunitinib (Sutent), temsirolimus (Torisel), everolimus (Afinitor), bevacizumab (Avastin), pazopanib (Votrient), or axitinib (Inlyta).
- Ablation. This uses extreme cold or radio waves to destroy tumors.