Kidney Cancer Patients?

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 Kidney cancer is the type of cancer that arises in the tissues of the kidneys. The most common type
of kidney cancer in adults is renal cell carcinoma (RCC) which forms in the lining of small tubules in
the kidney that filter the blood and remove waste products from the body. Transitional cell cancer
(TCC) of the kidney is another type that forms at the renal pelvis which is the center of the kidney
that collects urine.  US National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 65000 new kidney cancers
are diagnosed each year. With the use of more advanced technology in imaging techniques, smaller
kidney cancers are identified which translates into overall increase in the incidence of kidney cancer.
Treatment options of kidney cancer include surgical removal of kidney tissue such as minimally
invasive ablation vs partial, simple or radical nephrectomy depending size and spread of the cancer
which are performed by urologists. In advanced stages, medical treatments including conventional
chemotherapy, targeted biological agents and immunotherapy follow surgery and are provided by
uro-oncologists.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) or the slow loss of kidney functions over time is both a risk factor and
a complication of kidney cancer. The risk of kidney cancer especially RCC increases substantially for
patients with known prior CKD reaching to 100-fold for patients with end stage renal disease.
Nephrectomy, surgical removal of part of kidney, puts patients at risk to develop CKD after the
surgery and about 25% of patients with kidney cancer have CKD even before nephrectomy. A patient
with a small kidney cancer is much more likely to die of complications of CKD than those related to
cancer. Therefore, it is very important to identify patients who are at high risk for CKD before
surgical treatment of the kidney cancer. Nephrologists screen and identify kidney cancer patients that
are at high risk of developing CKD after surgery. Nephrologists team with urologists for “before and
after surgery” care of patients. Nephrologists are routinely consulted for optimization of blood
pressure of kidney cancer patients, correction of anemia, avoidance of drugs that are potentially toxic
to kidneys and adequate hydration of kidneys during contrast use with computer tomography or
during surgery.