Booklet: What You Need to Know about Renal Cell Carcinoma

Diagnosis

To find the cause of symptoms, the doctor asks about the patient's medical history and does a physical exam. In addition to checking for general signs of health, the doctor may perform blood and urine tests. The doctor may also carefully feel the abdomen for lumps or irregular masses.

The doctor usually orders tests that produce pictures of the kidneys and nearby organs. These pictures can often show changes in the kidney and surrounding tissue. For example, an IVP (intravenous pyelogram) is a series of x-rays of the kidneys, ureters, and bladder after the injection of a dye. The dye may be placed in the body through a needle or a narrow tube called a catheter. The pictures produced can show changes in the shape of these organs and nearby lymph nodes.

Another test, arteriography, is a series of x-rays of the blood vessels. Dye is injected into a large blood vessel through a catheter. X-rays show the dye as it moves through the network of smaller blood vessels in and around the kidney.

Other imaging tests may include CT scan, MRI, and ultrasonography, which can show the difference between diseased and healthy tissues.

If test results suggest that kidney cancer may be present, a biopsy may be performed; it is the only sure way to diagnose cancer. During a biopsy for kidney cancer, a thin needle is inserted into the tumor and a sample of tissue is withdrawn. A pathologist then examines the tissue under a microscope to check for cancer cells.

Once kidney cancer is diagnosed, the doctor will want to learn the stage, or extent, of the disease. Staging is a careful attempt to find out whether the cancer has spread and, if so, what parts of the body are affected. This information is needed to plan a patient's treatment.

To stage kidney cancer, the doctor may use additional MRI and x-ray studies of the tissues and blood vessels in and around the kidney. The doctor can check for swollen lymph nodes in the chest and abdomen through CT scans. Chest x-rays can often show whether cancer has spread to the lungs. Bone scans reveal changes that may be a sign that the cancer has spread to the bones.

A person who needs a biopsy may want to ask the doctor some of the following questions:

• How long will it take? Will I be awake? Will it hurt?
• How soon will I know the results?
• If I do have cancer, who will talk with me about treatment? When?

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