Treatment of a kidney tumor

With all the variety of malignant tumors of the kidneys, they all develop asymptomatically at the initial stages of the disease. It is necessary to pay attention to a number of such indirect signs, such as tenderness in the kidney, blood in the urine, increased blood pressure, swelling on the back from the kidney. Cancer in the kidney metastasizes very quickly. A quarter of all patients with kidney cancer at the time of examination have metastases. Most often, metastases of kidney cancer appear in the lungs, bones, lymph nodes, liver and brain.

Briefly about the symptoms of a kidney tumor

There are three main symptoms with which a patient usually consults a doctor - blood in the urine, education in the abdomen and pain. Most often, the blood in the urine appears against the background of absolute health, while( a distinctive feature of kidney cancer) there are no pains. This condition can quickly disappear and appear again in a few weeks or months, and sometimes only a year or two. The tumor gradually grows, which leads to the manifestation of a second symptom - a sensation of a neoplasm in the abdomen. Often, thin patients themselves begin to feel their own kidneys at an early stage of cancer.

In the absence of treatment, the tumor begins to go beyond the capsule of the kidney and grow into neighboring structures - blood vessels and fatty tissue. The result is pain. In most cases, pain is said to be a common tumor. Also, pain can be a signal about tumor metastasis. Sometimes kidney cancer has unusual symptoms. A significant increase in erythrocytes in the blood, an increase in the level of calcium, an increase in blood pressure, as well as a violation of liver function can develop.

Treatment of

The main method of treating a kidney tumor is surgical. During surgery, surgeons remove the affected kidney, as well as fat, its surrounding, and ureter. This method is called "radical nephrectomy."Nowadays, operations that preserve the organs in kidney cancer have been developed. They are carried out in the early stages of a kidney tumor in the case where it is impossible to remove the kidney entirely. This is not a question of the prevalence of this process. This is a rare case, when the remaining uninfected kidney can not take on all the functions to remove the metabolic products from the tissues of the body. Such operations involve the surgical removal of only a part of the kidney. As the scientific research shows, the long-term result of such an operation differs little from operations on complete removal of the kidney. However, after organ-saving operations, the risk of local relapse is higher.

The overall five-year survival in patients after radical nephrectomy at the first stage is about 80%.If the tumor struck the lower vena cava, then five or more years after the operation, 40-50% of the patients live( the second stage).When involved in the renal vein process, the five-year survival rate is 60 percent. If fatty tissue is involved in 3 stages, the survival rate is 80 percent. The defeat of regional lymph nodes cancer( stage 3-4) suggests a total 5-year survival rate in 20 percent of cases. When the tumor grows into neighboring organs and in the presence of distant metastases, no more than 5% of patients live five years after the operation.

Currently, scientists recognize the expediency of conducting surgery for single, even distant from each other metastases of the kidney tumor. As the results of medical research show, such operations improve the overall quality of life of the patient and significantly prolong it.

Forecast

With a kidney tumor, it all depends on the stage of the process. The worst results were recorded in patients with deep renal vein germination and extensive metastases. Particularly unfavorable is the prognosis of the unoperated patients. As the tumor grows or the metastases spread, the patient's condition deteriorates steadily. There is a general weakness, there is exhaustion, in most cases, fever, blood in the urine, severe pain. Patients die from severe intoxication, anemia and cachexia. An important prognostic factor is the age of the patient. Among patients younger than forty, there is less survival than among slightly older patients.