Kidney Cancer

The experts at NewYork-Presbyterian determine the best treatment approach for each patient with kidney cancer by considering the type, location, and stage of the disease as well as the patient's age and physical health. 

Kidney cancer treatment options include: 

• Surgery - Part of the kidney or the entire kidney may be surgically removed. Minimally invasive approaches such as laparoscopy are generally preferable to open procedures because they can more easily allow surgeons to remove the tumor while leaving enough tissue for the kidney to function.
• Targeted drug therapy - Targeted drugs treat kidney cancer by blocking specific pathways active in kidney cancer progression. For example, they can inhibit the growth of blood vessels and other materials that help cancer survive. Many of these types of drugs have been approved in the last several years. Usually, doctors try using one targeted drug at a time to test which works most effectively, but combinations of the drugs may be administered in certain cases. 
• Radiation therapy - Uses high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells. This treatment method is used to alleviate pain, bleeding, and symptoms caused by kidney cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, like the bones and brain. This can be recommended if a patient is not a candidate for surgery.
• Immunotherapy - This treatment boosts or restores the body's natural defenses against cancer. Immunotherapy targets special proteins that kidney cancer cells can use to hide from the immune system, enabling the body to detect and kill cancer cells more effectively. It can be used on its own or in combination with surgery.
• Ablation – This process uses heat or cold to kill cancerous cells. In cryoablation, a special needle is used to insert cold gas into the tumor to freeze cancerous cells. In radiofrequency ablation, a needle is inserted into the tumor. An electrical current runs through the needle and heats the cancer cells to kill them.
• Chemotherapy - Uses medication that is either taken orally or intravenously to kill cancer cells. Kidney cancer cells often do not respond well to chemotherapy, so it is not a standard treatment method and is usually only recommended after immunotherapy or targeted drug therapy.

Surgery is usually the first treatment choice for localized kidney cancer, but not all patients are good candidates for kidney surgery. If the cancer is more advanced or the patient only has one kidney, doctors may treat kidney cancer patients with radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, or a combination of these.