Your medical history, general health, the size, location of cancer and many other factors are considered in determining the treatment needed.

Surgery: Is the standard treatment for most cases of adult kidney cancers that have not spread to distant areas of the body. Based on location, size your doctor will decide if only a part of the kidney (partial nephrectomy) or entire kidney needs to be removed (radical nephrectomy). This operation can be done by traditional open technique or by keyhole incisions (laparoscopic), and this will be decided based on CT scan and technical accessibility of the tumor. The goal of partial nephrectomy is to remove the entire tumor while preserving as much normal kidney tissue as possible.

Immunotherapy:

This group of drugs stimulates your immune system to attack cancer. These drugs are used in patients where the tumor has spread beyond the kidney to other organs. But it has shown some decrease in tumor size in only 20% of patients. These drugs are given intravenously either before or after nephrectomy.

Targeted Agents:

These drugs cause the vessels supplying the tumor to regress. It can slow the progress of kidney cancer and allow patients to live longer. These drugs are taken orally but they can be associated with side effects including fatigue, hypertension, and skin problems. But most patients are able to tolerate these drugs fairly well and appear to benefit from them. Like immunotherapy, these drugs can be used either before or after nephrectomy. The other drawback is these drugs are expensive at present.