Kidney Adenocarcinoma at 10x Magnification

Kidney cancer treatment most commonly involves the surgical removal of part or the entire affected organ, a process known as nephrectomy. Adrenal glands, surrounding adipose tissue, and lymph nodes may also be removed. Other forms of treatment that are sometimes utilized in conjunction with surgery or alone include embolization, which cuts off the tumor blood supply and interferes with cancer growth, and radiation therapy, which can help shrink tumors through damage to the cancerous cells they contain inflicted by high-powered radiation. If a patient’s cancer has already metastasized by the time treatment is begun, systemic therapies, such as hormone therapy and biological therapy, are much more likely to be utilized. Chemotherapy, which is a popular form of treatment for many cancer types, has not proven very effective at battling kidney cancer.