Kidney Cancer FAQ

The prognosis depends mainly on the kidney cancer subtype and the extent of the disease. In a localised disease, surgical treatment is usually successful. However, a follow-up must be done afterwards, as there is always a risk of relapse. If the disease spreads to other organs, the goal of treatment is to turn the cancer into a chronic disease and maintain quality of life. 

No, there is currently no treatment after surgery shown to reduce the risk of relapse of the disease. However, the most recent studies seem to show that immunotherapy administration could be useful in this context. There are currently a number of different clinical trials in this field.

That understood as classical chemotherapy (the type which causes hair loss) is not useful in kidney cancer. For this reason, other treatments have been developed: mainly antiangiogenics and immunotherapy, which have shown a clear benefit in controlling these tumours.  

This depends on numerous factors, including the kidney tumour subtype, the general condition of the patient, the disease symptoms and extension, other diseases the patient may have and the availability of different drugs or clinical trials. For this reason, a single recommendation cannot be made and the choice must be individualised based on patient characteristics.  

During medical treatment, periodic imaging tests are carried out to monitor the evolution of the disease and to see if there is an improvement in the extent, stability and growth of these lesions. Depending on these results and tolerance to the treatment, the treatment is either continued or its regimen modified.  

Your lifestyle depends on the symptoms the cancer produces and the side effects of the treatment. There are patients who have to reduce their activity and require more cures and others who can maintain an active life and even return to work.