Kidney Cancer Treatment

What is Kidney Cancer?
Kidney cancer refers to the situation where the kidney cells become cancerous and grow out of control resulting to a tumor. It is also known as renal cancer. However, this type of cancer is detectable before spreading to distant organs and successfully treated. Kidneys are bean-shaped organs responsible for cleaning the blood, making urine and removing waste products.

Risk factors for kidney cancer

• Smoking: Smokers have a double chance of contracting this disease as compared to nonsmokers.
• Obesity: Additional weight causes change in hormonal balance that increases your risk.
• Certain pain medications: This includes prescription drugs and over the counter drugs.
• Genetic condition: Some genetic condition such as inherited papillary renal cell carcinoma increases the risk of contracting this disease.

Symptoms of kidney cancer

Sometimes, many people have either one or a combination of the following symptoms as cancer continues to grow. The symptoms include;

• Swelling of the legs or ankles
• Blood in the urine
• Loss of appetite
• Anemia
• Persistent pain on the side
• Extreme fatigue

The treatment of kidney cancer depends on factors such as size and spread of cancer. Note that, early detection of the condition is the key to its elimination. The treatment methods include surgical treatments:

• Nephrectomy: This is a surgical operation to remove the kidney. Depending on the size of the tumor, the size of the kidney varies and so does the procedure.
• Embolization: During this operation, the surgeon inserts a small tube in the form of a catheter into the groin and then uses X-ray images to guide the catheter into the blood supply. A substance is then injected into the catheter to block the supply of the blood into the kidney. Through depriving the kidney oxygen and nutrients, it causes the tumors to shrink.
• Radiotherapy: It does not cure kidney cancer entirely, but serves to slow down the progress of cancer and reduce pain.
• Cryotherapy: This involves the use of cancer cells through freezing them. It is effective where the patient is not fit enough for surgery or the case where the tumor is small. It's classified as either laparoscopic (needles are inserted directly into the kidney via a small incision) and percutaneous (needles are passed via the skin).
• Radiofrequency ablation: This involves the use of heat generated by radio waves to eliminate the cancer cells. This procedure is available only at specialist centers.

How much time is required?
Radiotherapy takes a few minutes every day for a few days. Cryotherapy is administered for several hours and requires

What type of anesthesia will be given?
general anesthesia.
Nephrectomy: General anesthesia, Cryotherapy: General anesthesia, Radiofrequency ablation: Local anesthesia to numb the area.

What are the possible common complications?
Bleeding, damage to the internal organs, pain, and bloodstains on the urine, nausea, fatigue, and vomiting, Injury to the ureter.