In clinical and life, we usually hear that the most effective way to treat kidney cancer is to surgically remove the kidney, so most people subconsciously believe that once they suffer from kidney cancer, the kidney cannot be saved. So, is this really the case?
Kidney cancer surgery = total renal resection?
Surgery for kidney cancer is also usually divided into radical nephrectomy (i.e., total renal resection surgery) and renal cancer resection with preserved renal units (i.e., partial renal resection/kidney preservation surgery), whether the kidney can be saved while removing the tumor, and many factors related to the doctor's surgical experience, the stage, size, location of the tumor, and the patient's comorbid disease.
01 Tumor stage and size
According to the international staging standard, generally speaking, T1 and T2 stages belong to early and intermediate kidney cancer, and most of the tumors are under the size of 7 cm.
Kidney tumors that usually grow within 4 cm in diameter around the periphery can be used for kidney preservation surgery;
Patients with tumors with a diameter of 4 cm to 7 cm that do not grow around or inside the kidneys can also consider kidney protection surgery if they find a doctor with experienced surgery;
T3 and above staged tumors, indicating that the tumor has invaded the periphery of the kidney or inside the kidney, belongs to the local advanced stage, usually choose radical total renal resection surgery, but for very experienced doctors, in some cases, it is possible to do 10 cm size kidney tumor kidney preservation surgery, there are corresponding successful cases.
For the detailed staging of kidney cancer, you can refer to the article "Bei Swollen Du Peng" public account in the early stage of the kidney tumor staging is not clear? An article to make you understand in seconds!
02 Tumor location
Tumors that grow on the lateral side of the kidney are more suitable for kidney-preserving surgery, and are relatively convenient to operate when removed and sutured, and have little impact on most kidneys.
And the tumor that grows inside the kidney without growing outward, or the tumor that grows next to the renal blood vessels, such as the renal hilar tumor, the difficulty of protecting the kidney is relatively large, and the doctor needs to have rich surgical experience and accurate judgment, if the remaining kidney after cutting off the tumor cannot guarantee kidney function, it is also necessary to do total renal resection surgery.
03 Comorbidities
When a patient has hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or other kidney disease that causes abnormal normal kidney function, if the kidney on one side of the tumor is completely removed, the future kidney function of the other side may not be sufficient to maintain the patient's normal physiological needs.
Kidney-sparing surgery is usually recommended in this setting. If arterial vascular diseases, such as renal artery stenosis, cannot guarantee that the remaining kidney has sufficient renal function after forced kidney protection surgery, it is recommended to choose total renal resection surgery.
In addition, if the patient has only one functioning kidney, such as congenital kidney atrophy on one side or one kidney has been removed due to other diseases. The only kidney with kidney cancer should choose kidney preservation surgery as much as possible, otherwise the patient has no kidney after total resection and needs to live on dialysis.
For patients who need to have radical nephrectomy (i.e., total renal resection), there is no need to worry too much, doctors will remove the tumor at the same time, as far as possible to help patients preserve kidney function, to maximize the quality of life of patients after surgery.