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This depends mainly on how big your cancer is, and whether it has spread.
Your doctors will tell you about the risks, benefits and side effects of the treatments being offered, and how they may affect your life afterwards. They will take your wishes into account.
In complex cases you may be referred for an opinion to a specialist Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) which consists of experts in the treatment of kidney cancer.
You will then need to agree to the treatment before it can start. This is called giving your consent. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if there is anything you don’t understand.
The treatments you may be offered are:
Surgery
If your cancer has not spread, surgery offers the best chance of a cure.
This may be:
- an operation to take out the whole of your kidney (a total nephrectomy). This is the most usual operation
- an operation to take out part of your kidney (a partial nephrectomy). This is suitable only for small kidney cancers.
If the cancer is small, it may be possible to use laparoscopic surgery to remove it. The surgeon does the operation using telescopes passed through small cuts in the wall of the abdomen. It is sometimes called keyhole surgery.
If the cancer has spread, cure is very difficult. You may be offered:
Biological Therapy
This is quite a new treatment. It uses substances (eg Interferon, Interleukin, Sunitinib) that encourage the body’s natural defence system to attack the cancer. The substances are given by injection, which you may be able to do yourself.
When cancer has spread, doctors don't normally think it is helpful to remove the kidney. However, in a few cases, the doctor may feel it is worth taking out the kidney before starting immunotherapy treatment. The doctor will discuss this in detail with you, if s/he thinks it may help you.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses special drugs to kill cancer cells. It doesn’t often work well on kidney cancer, but you may be able to try it as part of a clinical trial, or combined with immunotherapy.
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells. It can help to control some of the symptoms cancer may cause, e.g. pain, but it cannot cure cancer of the kidney.
For more information about treatments, go to our cancer treatments section.
