Your kidney cancer treatment options strongly depend on a number of factors, including the type of cancer you have and whether or not it has spread already, as well as your age and overall health. Last but not least, your own preference is another important aspect, too. The majority of kidney cancers are being treated through surgery. The find the right surgical procedure depends on the factors mentioned above and include, but are not limited to:
Surgical Procedures:
Nephrectomy, the removal of the entire affected kidney:
During this procedure, the entire organ is being removed alongside the adrenal gland, some border tissue, and possibly some lymph nodes.
There are two ways to perform a nephrectomy. Either the surgeon makes a large incision through your skin in order to get access to the kidney and its surroundings. Or it can be done laparoscopically, which is a minimally invasive operation where the surgeon only uses very small incisions to insert a camera and very small surgical tools. Some institutions that specialize in that kind of technique use robots to perform the actual surgery monitored and steered by the surgeon watching a monitor.
Nephron sparing surgery, the partial removal of the kidney:
If a part of the kidney can be saved, the surgeon removes the tumor rather than the entire organ. It depends on the size and location of the tumor, if this kind of procedure is an option for a kidney cancer patient.
Obviously, since a laparoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure, the recovery time after surgery is much faster that a classic “full cut open” operation. For my kind of tumor, the surgeon clearly determined that due to its location a nephron sparing surgery is not an option in and therefore a laparoscopic removal of the entire kidney is required.
Non Surgical Procedures:
Embolization:
This procedure intends to deprive the tumor of oxygen and nutrients, by clogging the artery going to the kidney.
Chemotherapy:
There are several chemotherapy protocols available for kidney cancer treatment. Over the recent years this sector has experienced a lot of advancements, and new drugs become available more frequently.
Immunotherapy (Biological Therapy):
The intension of this form of therapy is to boost the body’s immune system. The most commonly known drugs for this approach are probably interferon and interleukin-2, which are synthetic copies of chemicals made in our bodies.
