Biopsy for Kidney Cancer?

Slt876
Slt876 Member Posts: 2
in Kidney Cancer #1

If you're kidney is being removed any way,  is it normal process to have a biopsy before removal?  I don't see the sense in that...

Comments

  • AnnissaP
    AnnissaP Member Posts: 632 Member
    #2
    Three doctors I saw said they

    Three doctors I saw said they do not biopsy. Even if they don't know what it is they take it out anyway. Biopsy or no biopsy....it comes out. I just had my kidney out on the 7th and did not have a biopsy. I would decline one anyhow even if they wanted to do one. Good luck!!!

  • Slt876
    Slt876 Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2017 #3
    AnnissaP said:

    Three doctors I saw said they

    Three doctors I saw said they do not biopsy. Even if they don't know what it is they take it out anyway. Biopsy or no biopsy....it comes out. I just had my kidney out on the 7th and did not have a biopsy. I would decline one anyhow even if they wanted to do one. Good luck!!!

    Was the ureter removed as

    Was the ureter removed as well?  That is why he says he wants a biopsy...to see if that is cancerous also, or can stay.  My tumor is located in a rather tight spot...right next to the uterer.

  • AnnissaP
    AnnissaP Member Posts: 632 Member
    edited November 2017 #4
    Ohh I see. I believe

    Ohh I see. I believe everything was left but he checked it all while he was in there. All I have heard is that biopsies are not 100% reliable. They could take 10 pieces, but miss where the cancer is (if there is cancer).

  • DreamOnDeb
    DreamOnDeb Member Posts: 112
    edited November 2017 #5
    Slt876,

    Slt876,

    Sometimes a biopsy is absolutely necessary.  They are done more often than you think.

    I believe that you may be in the same situation that my husband was in.  He HAD to have a biopsy first because it was impossible to tell from the CT scan whether it was Transitional Cell Carcinoma or Renal Cell Carcinoma.  Here’s the difference.....Transitional Cell Carcinoma acts more like a bladder cancer than a true kidney cancer (even though it‘s in the kidney).  If it is Transitional Cell Carcinoma, then your whole kidney, PLUS THE URETER, must be removed.  If it’s Renal Cell Carcinoma, then just the kidney can be removed.

    Say that the surgeon had just removed the kidney without doing a biopsy first, and then the pathology report came back as being Transitional Cell Carcinoma.....OOPS!!!  The surgeon would have made a very bad mistake because he didn’t remove the ureter as well, and then he would have had to go back in a second time to remove that.

    It sounds like your tumor is also too close to the ureter to be able to confirm whether it’s growing from that or not.  If it is actually growing from that, it could be Transitional Cell, and the ureter must also be removed because the cancer could come back in your bladder.

    My husband’s biopsy came back as being Renal Cell Carcinoma, so he did not have to have his ureter removed.

Discussion Boards