Renal Cell Cancer Treatment Information for Patients

Treatment Option Overview

How renal cell cancer is treated

     There are treatments for most patients with renal cell cancer. Five kinds of treatment are used:

• surgery (taking out the cancer in an operation)
• chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells)
• radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells)
• hormone therapy (using hormones to stop cancer cells from growing)
• biological therapy (using the body's immune system to fight cancer)

     Surgery is a common treatment of renal cell cancer. A doctor may take out the cancer using one of the following:

• Partial nephrectomy removes the cancer and part of the kidney around the cancer. This is usually done only in special cases, such as when the other kidney is damaged or has already been removed.
• Simple nephrectomy removes the whole kidney. The kidney on the other side of the body can take over filtering the blood.
• Radical nephrectomy removes the kidney with the tissues around it. Some lymph nodes in the area may also be removed.

     Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be put into the body by a needle in a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drugs enter the bloodstream, travel through the body, and can kill cancer cells throughout the body.

     Radiation therapy uses x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body (external radiation therapy) or from putting materials that contain radiation through thin plastic tubes (internal radiation therapy) in the area where the cancer cells are found. Radiation can be used alone or before or after surgery and/or chemotherapy.

     Hormone therapy uses hormones (taken by pill or injected with a needle) to stop cancer cells from growing.

     Biological therapy tries to get the body to fight cancer. It uses materials made by the body or made in a laboratory to boost, direct, or restore the body's natural defenses against disease. Biological therapy is sometimes called biological response modifier (BRM) therapy or immunotherapy.

     Sometimes a special treatment called arterial embolization is used to treat renal cell cancer. A narrow tube (catheter) is used to inject small pieces of a special gelatin sponge into the main blood vessel that flows into the kidney to block the blood cells that feed the tumor. This prevents the cancer cells from getting oxygen or other substances they need to grow.

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