Kidney Cancer

Mayo Clinic physicians are leaders in diagnosing and treating people with kidney cancer, and bring comprehensive, compassionate care to each patient. Mayo Clinic surgeons led the way in developing kidney-sparing surgery (partial nephrectomy), as a way to preserve kidney tissue and function. Mayo surgeons have performed thousands of partial nephrectomies for kidney cancer patients.

Diagnosis

Incidental, early-stage kidney cancer detection plays a crucial role in determining treatment options and maximizing a patient's chances of retaining kidney function. Mayo Clinic physicians have extensive experience diagnosing kidney cancer in its earliest stages, and routinely check for possible kidney cancer tumors while conducting imaging tests for unrelated conditions.

Mayo physicians rely on a wide range of diagnostic tools to complete kidney cancer diagnosis, including imaging devices, biopsies, blood and urine tests, as well as other diagnostic methods which can confirm the presence and stage of the cancer. Read more about kidney cancer diagnosis.

Treatment

Surgery is the most common treatment for kidney cancer. Urologic surgeons at Mayo Clinic have extensive experience performing minimally invasive procedures, such as robot-assisted partial nephrectomy, which enables extremely precise incisions and rapid suturing, decreases surgical scarring, and leads to faster postsurgical healing.

Mayo surgeons also perform other minimally invasive, state-of-the-art techniques such as radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation. Minimally invasive options offer more precisely-targeted procedures to limit tissue damage, speed recovery and ensure as much continued normal kidney function as possible, with the least amount of discomfort and risk of complications. Minimally invasive treatment options are different for each patient depending on the extent of their disease. Read more about kidney cancer treatment options.

Research

Mayo Clinic is also a proven leader in kidney cancer research and in developing treatments for patients with advanced, metastatic tumors (cancer or disease that has spread or grown beyond the kidney to involve other organs such as bones, lungs, liver or even the brain). Many Mayo oncologists participate in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, an organization that performs fundamental research into the causes of kidney cancer and best patient care practices. The National Cancer Institute has designated the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center a comprehensive cancer center, it's highest designation, in part because of the depth and breadth of resources devoted to kidney cancer.