Kidney Surgery

Kidney cancer or renal cancer forms 2 % of cancer. They are highly malignant. They are more common in men than in women. 5 to 10% are hereditary.

Today about 40% are diagnose as incidental by USG/CT for other conditions. Other types of presentation are pain, blood in the urine or lump in the abdomen.

Diagnosis of kidney cancer is mostly on imaging by CT scan. Biopsy is done very rarely to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment of kidney cancer.

Surgical removal is the mainstay in treatment of kidney cancer. Kidney cancer is not responsive to chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Immunotherapy is used kidney cancer that have spread beyond the kidneys.

• Radical nephrectomy- Complete removal of the kidney
• Partial nephrectomy- Removal of the kidney tumor only

Minimally invasive treatment like

• Cryotherapy
• RF (Radiofrequency ablation)
• Angioembolization

All these can be achieved by

• Open surgery (Rarely for large tumors)
• Robotic surgery using Da Vinci robot
• Laparoscopic surgery

Partial Nephrectomy or Nephron Sparing Surgery

• Remove only the tumor in the kidney
• Preserve maximum renal function
• No compromise in the cancer control
• Standard of care for small renal cancer

Can be done by

• Open surgery
• Laparoscopic surgery
• Robotic surgery
• Renal cancer in complex location may need open surgery
• Complications more common than radical nephrectomy