PT3, NX Pathology Report - anyone else out there with PT3 - how are you doing?

Manufred said:

Adjuvant Treatment for kidney cancer

You've had a lot to take in lately.  Sorry but here is a bit more.

Chemo is not always presribed after kidney cancer surgery because kidney cancer usually does not respond well to traditional Chemo - the survival stats you have quoted are a good sign of that.  Not sure if the same applies to bladder cancer.

The surgeon/urologst and pathologist can only look at what they've taken out and "guess" that they have got the lot.  They cannot tell if it has metastasised, which means spread to other more remote locations inthe body.  That spread occurs through the blood so I gues that is he meant when he said he did not know if it had gotten into the veins.  The same applies for almost all other types of cancer, and adjuvant treatment is intended to mop-up any such bits that might have spread before or during surgery.

A more recent type of treatment for some cancers including kidney is immunotherapy.  This is a lot less aggressive than standard chemo.  There has been some success with immunotherapy as a treatment for established metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) including myself (more details on my profile).  So if itdoes show up later in follow-up scans (up to 5 years later is not unheard of) that might be an option for your husband.

They are now lookng at giving immunotherapy as an adjuvant treatment, but this is probably still in trial stage.  Participation in a clinical trial could be an option for your husband if he is prepared to engage with the reality of his condition, but that would depend on finding a trial wherever you are and then getting accepted.

You still have a long way to go but it's not all bad news and the science behind cancer survival is getting better every day.

Keep up with the learning cycle and maintain a good attitude. And perhaps you really should change that stage name.

Best wishes for both of you. 

 

Thanks Manufred.

He didn't have bladder cancer.  He had kidney cancer.

The cancer he had is just not as common in the kidneys.  It's rare.

It's called urothelial carcinoma or transitional cell carcinoma.

It's a type of cancer that typically occurs in the urinary system. It is the most common type of bladder cancer and cancer of the ureter, urethra, and urachus. It is the second most common type of kidney cancer, but accounts for only five to 10 percent of all primary renal malignant tumors.

urothelial cancer :  

Cancer that begins in cells called urothelial cells that line the urethra, bladder, ureters, renal pelvis, and some other organs. Urothelial cells are also called transitional cells. These cells can change shape and stretch without breaking apart. Also called transitional cell cancer.