The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs located behind the abdominal organs that are responsible for removing waste products in the body and regulating blood pressure. Kidney cancer, sometimes referred to as renal cancer, is the abnormal growth of cells in the kidneys. Common symptoms of kidney cancer include blood in the urine, a lump or bulge (tumor) in the lower back, rapid or unexplained weight loss, and pain in the lower back.

Upon diagnosis, your doctor will work with you and your healthcare team to provide the best kidney cancer therapy, and may use a combination of the following kidney cancer treatments:

1. Surgery

The most common kidney cancer treatment is surgery. The details of this treatment depend on the extent of the damage that kidney cancer has caused to your body. There are several surgical options that doctors can choose depending on the patient’s condition. They include:

• Partial nephrectomy: The surgeon removes the infected part containing the tumor, and
• Radical nephrectomy: This is where the surgeon extracts the whole kidney and some of the neighboring tissues, including, potentially, some lymph nodes.

2 . Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy is a type of drug treatment that is meant to halt cancer from growing and spreading throughout the body by attacking specific cancer cell features. The targeted-therapy drugs get inside the cancer cells and block certain enzymes that promote their growth and multiplication. Target therapy drugs are the first-line treatment for advanced kidney cancer, but the cancer may stop responding after some therapy drugs are administered. When this happens, your doctor should suggest another type of targeted therapy to aid in treatment.

3. Combination radiation therapy

Combination therapy entails using two treatments, such as combination radiation therapy and chemotherapy, that are combined to attack cancer from further destroying the body’s cells. The therapies can be administered in sequence, at the same time, or in different timing formats. Treatments are combined because:

• One treatment may not be enough.
• They curb the tumor from continuing to grow.
• One treatment may be more effective at a certain stage of cancer than another treatment.

Combination radiation therapy prevents further damage to the body and increases the chances of a patient entering full remission.

4. Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy involves using drugs to destroy cancer cells and stop them from growing and reproducing. A chemotherapy schedule consists of cycles administered over a designated period of time, so that doctors can monitor how the patient responds to treatment and add or reduce dosages to make the treatment more effective. Renal cell cancer carcinoma is more likely to be successfully treated through chemotherapy, with the side effects depending on the patient’s immune system and the number of doses they receive.

5. Immunotherapy

The immune system is equipped with white blood cells to help fight the body against diseases. Immunotherapy is a biological treatment that applies substances from living organisms to boost the patient’s immunity. Using immunotherapy as a type of kidney cancer therapy helps boost the immune system and puts it in a better position to reduce the infection rate. A good kidney cancer hospital should be equipped with the right machines for the treatment.

Remission is when there are no visible symptoms and the cancer becomes difficult to detect. On the other hand, cancer that returns is called recurrent cancer and may appear in the same spot or somewhere else in the body. For this reason, you need to understand the risks caused by recurrent cancer and seek the best treatment for you.