Kidney Cancer Treatment

In fact, sometimes kidney cancer is best left untreated under the watchful eye of an oncologist. Other times, kidney cancer requires aggressive treatment with surgery and investigational drug therapy. It takes an expert to be able to create the right kidney cancer treatment plan for you.

Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University is a top-performing center for kidney cancer treatment in the country. We see more patients with kidney cancer than anywhere else in the Southeast. That means we have expertise in treating kidney cancer that no other center in the state has. When you come to Winship, you can be assured you’ll receive the most effective care possible for your disease. And because we are a research institute with access to novel therapies in clinical trials, we offer more kidney cancer treatment options than any other cancer center in the region. Even if you’ve been told you’re out of options at another center, we may be able to help.

Because every case of renal cancer is different, there is no single kidney cancer treatment protocol that works for everyone. The genitourinary cancer experts at Winship use the latest technology and advanced testing to analyze your particular renal cancer from every angle. Your team of physicians — including your surgeon, radiation oncologist, medical oncologist and more — will meet to determine the best course of treatment for your cancer. This enables your care team to develop a plan to treat your cancer as aggressively as possible, all while minimizing side effects.

Once your personalized kidney cancer treatment plan is created, your team will discuss it with you, and treatment at Winship will be scheduled right away. We will even work with you and your local doctors in the event you decide to stay closer to home for treatment. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that you get your cancer treated the way it needs to be, wherever that is.

As Georgia’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Winship researchers are pioneers in kidney cancer treatment, leading clinical trials to study and develop new kidney cancer treatment options each year. In fact, many of the drugs used to treat cancer today came out of clinical trials performed at Winship, which means our patients were some of the first to benefit. In other words, we can offer you access to the latest kidney cancer treatment you may not find at other cancer centers.

In fact, Winship is one of the busiest centers for kidney cancer research in the world. Patients with stage 3 (locally advanced) and stage 4 (distantly advanced) cancers have options when it comes to enrolling in a clinical trial. We participate in not only phase 3 trials but also early-phase trials, providing our patients with access to the most novel of therapies.

At Winship, we offer the most comprehensive array of kidney cancer treatment options in Georgia and the expertise to treat this complex disease. Based on your unique cancer, your treatment plan may include:

Active Surveillance

Some kidney tumors are extremely slow-growing and remain small enough that they don’t cause symptoms. In such cases, invasive treatment may not be advisable. Instead, your oncologist may recommend regular follow-ups to keep an eye on the tumor and, as long as it stays a certain size, leave it be. This type of treatment requires an experienced oncologist who sees lots of kidney cancers to discern which cancers are suitable for active surveillance.

Surgery

Most patients with kidney cancer will have surgery to treat their disease. Sometimes surgery involves removing only the tumor and some surrounding tissue (resection) while other times surgery is performed to remove the entire kidney.

Winship is home to some of the most highly skilled genitourinary surgical oncologists in the country. They can often perform tumor resection even when other centers have recommended removing the entire kidney. They also are highly experienced in the surgical treatment of renal cell carcinoma with IVC tumor thrombus, a type of kidney cancer that spreads along the vena cava all the way to the heart. Many centers deem these cancers “uncurable,” but Winship successfully treats dozens of these cancers per year.

Ablation

Small tumors on the surface of the kidney can sometimes be treated with ablation, a minimally invasive procedure that uses heat or cold energy to destroy them. This treatment option generally requires shorter hospital stays and allows for a quicker recovery. Winship specializes in MRI-guided interventional ablation that’s more precise than other types of ablation.

Targeted Therapy

While chemotherapy isn’t especially effective in the treatment of kidney cancer, targeted therapy is becoming an increasingly important part of many patients’ kidney cancer treatment plan. Some targeted drugs prevent blood vessels from forming and feeding the tumor. Others target certain proteins in the cancer cells. Winship is currently conducting multiple clinical trials testing targeted therapies for kidney cancer.

Immunotherapy

This type of kidney cancer treatment uses drugs to help your body’s immune system recognize and enhance its ability to attack cancer cells. Winship is one of the centers pioneering the use of immunotherapies in kidney cancer treatment. In addition to leading immunotherapy clinical trials for genitourinary cancers, Winship has an entire immunotherapy research program that is advancing the world’s understanding of how our immune systems can be harnessed to treat cancer.

At Winship, we strive to deliver the most effective treatment while also minimizing side effects. But coping with kidney cancer and the side effects of kidney cancer treatment can be difficult. That’s why we have a supportive oncology team of specialized doctors and nurses on staff to help you with the physical, psychological and emotional aspects of living with cancer, including symptom management and counseling. This team — with the help of counselors, nurse navigators, dietitians and social service professionals — will be with you every step of the way, supporting you during your experience and beyond.