Kidney cancer is the development of abnormally rapid growth of mutated cells in the kidneys, which can affect one or both the kidneys. Kidney cancer can prove to be fatal if not detected in the early stages, and its treatment is also not as effective in the later stages. Kidney cancer has several symptoms, including blood in the urine, a lump on the abdomen, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, and anemia. The condition mostly affects adults over the age of 50 years, and this article talks about the treatment options for it.

Treatment
There are several treatment options for kidney cancer:

• Surgery
• Ablation
• Radiation therapy
• Targeted therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Immunotherapy

Surgery
Depending on the location of the tumor, surgery can be done to remove the kidney entirely, along with the tumor, or just to remove the cancerous tumor, along with some surrounding tissue. This may be accompanied by secondary treatment to remove any traces of malignant cells. Sometimes, the entire kidney, with or without the adrenal gland and fatty tissues around it, may have to be removed. The types of surgeries that can be done as treatment for kidney cancer depending on the stage of the disease are as mentioned:

• Radical nephrectomy
• Partial nephrectomy
• Regional lymphadenectomy
• Adrenalectomy
• Removal of metastases

Ablation
If one is too sick to undergo a surgical procedure to remove the tumor or doesn’t want to opt for surgery, they can choose other treatments for cancer, one of which is ablation. However, this treatment method is only recommended if the tumor is small in size. The types of ablation are cryotherapy (using extreme cold to destroy the tumor) and radiofrequency ablation (using high-energy waves that produce heat to destroy the tumor).

Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is a type of treatment for cancer that employs the use of high-energy rays focused and concentrated on the tumor to destroy it. If surgery isn’t possible for the patient or if they have only one kidney, radiation therapy is used. The possible side effects of radiation therapy include hair loss at the site of radiation, skin changes like sunburn, nausea, tiredness, or diarrhea. These, however, go away after a while, but radiation therapy may also worsen the side effects of other treatments.

Targeted therapy
Targeted therapy is a systemic treatment for cancer that involves the use of drugs to kill the cancer cells. These targeted medications are different from those used in chemotherapy in the sense that they target only the cancer cells and don’t affect the healthy cells nearby. Targeted therapy is important when it comes to kidney cancer as it also works in cases where chemotherapy doesn’t. Targeted therapy for the treatment of kidney cancer is more likely to be used when the cancer is advanced or as adjuvant therapy after surgery to prevent a relapse.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment in which anti-cancer medication is administered through an IV to the patient to destroy the cancer cells in any part of the body.

Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy as a treatment for cancer uses medicines to boost the patient’s immune system to fight the cancer cells more effectively.