Kidney cancer symptoms & treatments

Each year, more than 80,000 Americans are diagnosed with kidney cancer. It’s one of the most common cancers with men being twice as likely to be diagnosed with kidney cancer than women, especially those over the age of 55.

Multidisciplinary Genitourinary Cancer Clinic

Our Genitourinary Cancer Clinic at Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center focuses on treating kidney cancer as well as bladder cancer and prostate cancer. Our clinic includes experts from many specialties. When you’re referred to our clinic, our team will first evaluate your unique condition and needs to ensure our clinic is the best fit for you. We'll then schedule you to see all specialists needed during one visit so they can develop your tailored treatment plan.

Types of kidney cancer

There are two main types of kidney cancer:

• Renal cell carcinoma (RCC): RCC is one of the most common forms of adult kidney cancer and is defined by five specific types: clear-cell, papillary, chromophobe, sarcomatoid and rhabdoid. Renal cell carcinoma usually starts as a single tumor in one kidney, but it can affect both your kidneys and spread (metastasize) to other organs. All types of RCC begin in the lining of tiny filtering tubes inside the kidneys called nephrons.
• Upper tract urothelial carcinoma: This form of kidney cancer usually begins in the area where a ureter connects to the main part of a kidney (called the renal pelvis). This cancer represents 6 to 7% of all kidney cancers and can also grow in your ureters or bladder. These tumors are known as transitional cell cancers because they look similar to bladder cancer under a microscope and are often treated in similar ways.

Symptoms of kidney cancer

There are few kidney cancer symptoms at the earliest stages. Later symptoms include:

• Blood in your urine
• Back pain, just below your ribs
• A lump in your abdomen
• General kidney cancer symptoms, like fatigue, weight loss, fever, high blood pressure and swollen ankles

Diagnosis for kidney cancer

You may have a series of tests in order to get a diagnosis and, if it is kidney cancer, to determine its stage. The tests you may have include:

• Urine test: This test checks for blood in your urine.
• Blood test: This procedure counts the number of each of the different kinds of blood cells to determine if there are too few red blood cells (anemia).
• Computed tomography (CT) scan: This advanced X-ray system uses a computer to create a series of images – or slices – of your body to determine whether cancer is present.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): Using a large magnet, radio waves and a computer, MRI tests produce detailed body images.
• Ultrasound: Using high-frequency sound waves transmitted throughout your body tissues, ultrasound images prove helpful in detecting kidney tumors because they have a different density than healthy tissues.
• Interventional radiology renal mass biopsy: A thin needle is inserted into the tumor, and a small sample of the tissue is removed (biopsy). A pathologist looks at the tissue under a microscope to determine if there are any cancer cells.

Treatment options

The Aurora Health Care team has deep expertise in treating kidney cancer which means you can expect the latest technologies, treatments and medications.

While surgery—most often a partial nephrectomy—is a common approach to treating kidney cancer, treatment may also include targeted therapies, immunotherapy, and other medications, depending on your diagnosis. We offer advanced surgery options, including minimally invasive and robotic techniques, designed to support effective treatment, faster recovery, and personalized care.

Surgical treatments for kidney cancer include:

• Radical nephrectomy: In this surgery, we remove your entire kidney through an open incision in your side.
• Partial nephrectomy: In this surgery, we remove only the part of your kidney with the tumor. It’s an option if your tumor is small (less than 7 centimeters) and confined to the top or bottom of the organ.

Nonsurgical treatments include:

• Thermal ablation: This minimally invasive procedure uses cold or heat energy to freeze cancerous tumors.
• Cancer immunotherapy: If you have cancer that has spread (metastatic cancer), you may be able to utilize immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). While immunotherapy drugs don’t directly kill cancer cells, they do help the immune system better target cancerous cells.
• Targeted therapy: This treatment uses drugs or other substances that can find and attack specific cancer cells without harming normal cells. For example, there are substances that prevent blood vessels from forming (antiangiogenic agents) that are a type of targeted therapy. Used to treat advanced kidney cancer, these agents starve the tumor, causing it to shrink or stop growing.
• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells or slow their growth. It’s most often used to treat upper tract urothelial cancers, which can develop in the kidney’s urine‑collecting area (the renal pelvis) or in the ureter.
• Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT): SBRT is a non-invasive option for tumors in the kidney that aren’t removable by surgery or treatable with thermal ablation. It’s also commonly used to treat tumors that have spread to other parts of the body.