Kidney Tumor

KimGardner
KimGardner Member Posts: 2
edited January 2023 in Kidney Cancer #1
Hi I have just been informed by my doctor that after waiting almost 3 months for the information from ultrasounds and CT Scans that I have a tumor in my right Kidney. He wanted me to wait and see if it got any bigger 6 months from now, but I opted to see a specialist. There is a lot of Cancer in my family. Does anyone know what comes next? I've been on many web sites about kidney cancer in the last few days and so far each one has said different things. One said that they basically take the kidney or partially take the kidney, and another says to do a biopsy, but yet another says that having a biopsy will be dangerous in case it comes back cancerous.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Comments

  • wjm1961
    wjm1961 Member Posts: 11
    #2
    Hi Kim,

    I am sorry to hear your news. I had a partial Nephrectomy in Jan -04. I saw 2 Urologists and a Urologist/Oncologist as well as my primary doctor all were on the same, no biopsy do the surgery to remove or partially remove the kidney. It wasn't hard for me to make my decision. I wish you all the best.
  • Chicago
    Chicago Member Posts: 73 Member
    #3
    Hey Kim,

    If the doc is willing to wait 6 months, even if it turns out to be cancer, it sounds like you've probably caught it early.

    Different docs have different ideas of how serious these things can be. I was also given the option to wait 6 months, but my docs recommended against it. They found a definite mass in my kidney, but the scans were inconclusive if it was cancer. They quoted me only a 20% chance it was, but still recommended getting it out. 20% was enough of a risk for me.

    Well, the 20% chance became 100% once they took the thing out and did the pathology. 3 years out, and no sign of a return.

    Unless they can definitely rule out cancer in your case, I'd want to get that thing the hell out of my body, especially with a history of cancer in the family. Kidney cancer is nothing to mess with. I think you made the right call to see a specialist (you want a urological oncologist, or a urologist with experience in cancer who has done many nephrectomies).

    Whether you have the partial or whole nephrectomy depends a lot on the size of the mass, its location, and whether it has spread outside of the kidney. My docs were very conservative on this point, and opted to save as much of the kidney as they could.

    I biopsy would make me suspicious. Renal Cell (the most common form of kidney cancer) can be quite viscious and untreatable once it spreads in the body. It can usually be entirely removed though, while it is still entirely contained within the kidney. The important consideration is to make sure that none of cancer cells break free and escape into the body. A much smaller risk if they take out the whole kidney at once.

    The partial operation is therefore actually much more serious. They have to really open you up to make sure they don't cut into a cancerous mass. And that is the very problem with the biopsy. I tend to agree with the information you have that says a biopsy is dangerous, because if it is cancer, you could risk puncturing the tumor and allowing cancer cells to bleed into the body elsewhere.

    Please feel free to email me any time privately if you have any questions.
  • urkabsd
    urkabsd Member Posts: 37
    #4
    Chicago said:

    Hey Kim,

    If the doc is willing to wait 6 months, even if it turns out to be cancer, it sounds like you've probably caught it early.

    Different docs have different ideas of how serious these things can be. I was also given the option to wait 6 months, but my docs recommended against it. They found a definite mass in my kidney, but the scans were inconclusive if it was cancer. They quoted me only a 20% chance it was, but still recommended getting it out. 20% was enough of a risk for me.

    Well, the 20% chance became 100% once they took the thing out and did the pathology. 3 years out, and no sign of a return.

    Unless they can definitely rule out cancer in your case, I'd want to get that thing the hell out of my body, especially with a history of cancer in the family. Kidney cancer is nothing to mess with. I think you made the right call to see a specialist (you want a urological oncologist, or a urologist with experience in cancer who has done many nephrectomies).

    Whether you have the partial or whole nephrectomy depends a lot on the size of the mass, its location, and whether it has spread outside of the kidney. My docs were very conservative on this point, and opted to save as much of the kidney as they could.

    I biopsy would make me suspicious. Renal Cell (the most common form of kidney cancer) can be quite viscious and untreatable once it spreads in the body. It can usually be entirely removed though, while it is still entirely contained within the kidney. The important consideration is to make sure that none of cancer cells break free and escape into the body. A much smaller risk if they take out the whole kidney at once.

    The partial operation is therefore actually much more serious. They have to really open you up to make sure they don't cut into a cancerous mass. And that is the very problem with the biopsy. I tend to agree with the information you have that says a biopsy is dangerous, because if it is cancer, you could risk puncturing the tumor and allowing cancer cells to bleed into the body elsewhere.

    Please feel free to email me any time privately if you have any questions.

    hi, kim,
    i would most certainly see a specialist. i had a total kidney, rib and lymph gland removal in late feb. of this year. thank GOD, it was contained in the kidney and so far, all my sCANS have been negative. i didn't have a biopsy, they told me that it was not necessary and probably dangerous. they knew 99% going in that it was cancer. get a kidney surgeon who has done this many many times. the surgery truly is not that bad and recovery is pretty swift from the really bad part. it takes a long time for you to get all your strength back but it is so worth it not to have the cancer anymore!
  • palpk
    palpk Member Posts: 1 *
    #5

    I have a “small” tumor on my left kidney. I am 67 and in pretty good health. Saw Dr Paul Russo at MSKCC who only does open partial nephrectomy. He is very convincing on his reasoning

    I have another urologist saying robotic


    Any thoughts on dr Russo or the issue of open vs robotic in this case?


    thanks

  • AliceB1950
    AliceB1950 Member Posts: 244 Member
    #6

    The idea that biopsies can cause cancer to spread (called "seeding") is really out of date. Biopsies can be very important, like on a very small tumor to determine if it's cancer, and if so, what type (there are several types of kidney cancer). This is especially important if the urologist thinks ablation is a good option, which would lead to nothing remaining for pathology if no biopsy is done.

  • Bay Area Guy
    Bay Area Guy Member Posts: 620 Member
    #7

    Hi Kim. First off, sorry you’re going through this. First off, definitely see a specialist, preferably a urologic oncologist. They can review past ultrasounds and CTs and determine if they’re adequate or if more imaging is needed.

    After that, one of three things will happen:

    Best case…..it’s a benign cyst.

    Second case….it’s undetermined what it is, mainly because it’s too small. The specialist might suggest active surveillance, meaning you get a new scan in three to six months to determine if there is any growth.

    Worst case…..it’s determined to be malignant. At that point, surgical or minimally invasive procedures are discussed. Surgery can be open or robotic. Robotic is much less invasive, so presumably easier to recover from. Open surgery uses longer incisions, so typically it’s a longer recovery period. Total or partial removal of the kidney is also discussed. The size and location of the mass, as well as the surgeon’s capabilities, plays a part in the type of surgery. Less invasive methods are various types of ablation, where a needle is inserted into the mass and either treated with heat or extreme cold to kill the malignant cells. My urologic oncologist at the time of my experience with kidney cancer, said the ablation had about a 95% success rate, while surgery was 99+% successful.

    In my case, I had a very small lesion, originally measured at 1.5cm. My urologic oncologist suggested active surveillance due to the size, as a fair percentage of lesions that size turn out to be benign. This was late 2013. I had scans every six months (alternating between ultrasounds and CTs). In April of 2016 (yeah, 2-1/2 years), an ultrasound determined the lesion had grown to 1.7cm. So, we discussed surgery and ablation and concluded that a robotic partial nephrectomy was the best choice. The surgeon performed the operation in mid-June of 2016. From th3 time I checked in to my discharge was a grand total of 25-1/2 hours. Recovery time was about three months in terms of getting back to absolute full speed. But it was only about three weeks until I started driving again. Recovery was helped by walking, then walking more and, finally, walking.

    Biopsies were not discussed by my primary nor by the urologic oncologist.

  • Deanie0916
    Deanie0916 Member Posts: 628 Member
    #8

    Hi Kim. Welcome here, sorry you are in this boat. I'm glad you're seeing a specialist. From what I've seen here, most people have the surgery without biopsy. Please keep us updated, we are here for you.

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