Kidney Cancer Symptoms & Treatment
- Ashley Yore
- Nov 15, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 8, 2021
Kidney cancer is one of the 10 most common types of cancer in the United States,
although it’s most common among older adults. The physicians at Urology Group of Florida specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of kidney cancer, including cutting-edge robotic-assisted surgery.
Kidney Cancer Q & A
What are the symptoms of kidney cancer?
Kidney cancer develops when your DNA is damaged, causing cells to grow faster than normal and form a tumor. Although some kidney tumors are not cancerous, they can grow large enough to damage your kidney, so they’re usually removed.
When symptoms develop, you’ll typically experience:
Pain in your back or side that doesn’t go away
Blood in your urine (may appear pink, red, or light brown)
Loss of appetite
Unintended weight loss
Fever that comes and goes
Fatigue
These symptoms could signal many health problems, so it’s important to schedule an exam at Advanced Urology of South Florida. The doctors are experts in determining whether your symptoms are due to cancer or another underlying condition.
How is kidney cancer diagnosed and treated?
Your doctor diagnoses kidney cancer using blood tests and diagnostic imaging such as ultrasound, MRI, and CT scans. In some cases, they may also perform a biopsy. If you have cancer, your doctor stages the tumor based on its size and whether the cancer has spread.
The primary treatment for kidney cancer is surgery to remove the tumor. Patients who can’t tolerate surgery may undergo cryoablation (freezing) or radiofrequency ablation, which uses heat to destroy the tumor.
Kidney cancers are not very responsive to radiation therapy or chemotherapy, but your doctor may recommend these treatments to help relieve symptoms. Some patients may be good candidates for immunotherapy, which uses drugs to stimulate your immune system to fight cancer.
What are the advantages of robotic laparoscopic surgery to remove kidney cancer?
The team at Urology Group of Florida specialize in removing kidney tumors using robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive, which means it’s performed using long, narrow instruments inserted through a few small incisions.
Minimally invasive surgery causes less trauma to your body compared to open surgery. As a result, you have:
Significantly less bleeding
Less postoperative pain
Lower risk of complications
Shorter time in the hospital
Faster recovery
Minimal scarring
During robotic-assisted surgery, your doctor controls robotic arms that hold the surgical tools. These robotic arms intuitively respond to the doctor’s hand and finger movements, yet they manipulate the tools with enhanced dexterity and range of motion, allowing for more precise surgery.
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This article provides a clear and helpful overview of kidney cancer symptoms and advanced treatment options. It's encouraging to see how far minimally invasive techniques have come. While robotic surgery is a major step forward for tumor removal, it’s also great to know that procedures like the ureteroscopy procedure continue to play a key role in diagnosing and managing other kidney-related conditions with minimal discomfort. Excellent read!