Kidney Care (Nephrology)
Our nephrologists, located throughout the Philadelphia suburbs, will medically manage your kidney conditions and develop a treatment plan based on your specific needs.
Kidney cancer is cancer that begins in the kidneys, two bean-shaped organs that filter your blood and produce urine. Your kidneys sit just under your ribs, on either side of your spine. The Latin word for kidney is renal, so kidney cancer is sometimes also called renal cancer. The most common type is called renal cell cancer.
Many of the risk factors for kidney cancer are beyond your control—having certain genetic diseases, prior kidney disease or a family history of kidney cancer can all put you at risk. But there are some things you can control.
If you are a smoker, quitting smoking or even cutting back can lower your risk. If you have high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about how to keep it at a healthy level. Maintaining a healthy weight can also lower your risk of kidney cancer.
Kidney cancer often doesn't have any symptoms until a tumor has grown large enough to cause problems. For many people, kidney cancer is discovered when they have an imaging test for some other health concern and a kidney mass is detected on the scan.
When it does cause symptoms, these can include:
These symptoms can often look or feel similar to symptoms of other illnesses, so talk to your doctor. Whether you're having symptoms or not, to get a clear diagnosis, you'll need:
You might also need a special imaging test that looks at the structure of your kidneys and checks for any issues with the flow of blood and urine, such as a renal angiography. A renal angiography is a kidney X-ray that use dyes to check the blood flow in and around your kidneys.
Depending on your test results, you may also need a biopsy. Biopsy means that a small sample of tissue is removed and sent to a lab. A doctor called a pathologist will look at it under a microscope to check for signs of cancer.
The most common treatment for kidney cancer is surgery, called a nephrectomy. Surgery options include:
Even if one kidney is removed completely, the other kidney is usually still able to do the work of both kidneys.
Other treatments for kidney cancer include:
Your specific treatment plan may vary based on your unique needs. Talk to your doctor about the best treatment options for you.
To pinpoint your diagnosis, check for kidney damage and evaluate how well your kidneys are working, nephrologists use several sophisticated tests.
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Our nephrologists, located throughout the Philadelphia suburbs, will medically manage your kidney conditions and develop a treatment plan based on your specific needs.
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