What Is The Prognosis For People With Ccrcc
The estimate of how a disease will affect you long-term is called prognosis. Every person is different and prognosis will depend on many factors, such as
- Where the tumor is in your body
- If the cancer has spread to other parts of your body
- How much of the tumor was taken out during surgery
If you want information on your prognosis, it is important to talk to your doctor. NCI also has resources to help you understand cancer prognosis.
Doctors estimate ccRCC survival rates by how groups of people with ccRCC have done in the past. Because there are so few pediatric ccRCC patients, these rates may not be very accurate. They also dont take into account newer treatments being developed.
With this in mind, ccRCC patients with smaller tumors have a better chance of survival than patients with larger tumors. The 5-year survival rate for patients with ccRCC is 50-69%. When ccRCC is already large or has spread to other parts of the body, treatment is more difficult and the 5-year survival rate is about 10%.
Related Resources
How Is Renal Cell Carcinoma Diagnosed
If your doctor suspects that you may have RCC, theyll ask about your personal and family medical history. Theyll then do a physical exam. Findings that can indicate RCC include swelling or lumps in the abdomen, or, in men, enlarged veins in the scrotal sac .
If RCC is suspected, your doctor will order a number of tests to get an accurate diagnosis. These may include:
- complete blood count a blood test conducted by drawing blood from your arm and sending it to a lab for evaluation
- CT scan an imaging test that allows your doctor to take a closer look at your kidneys to detect any abnormal growth
- abdominal and kidney ultrasounds a test that uses sound waves to create a picture of your organs, allowing your doctor to look for tumors and problems within the abdomen
- urine examination tests used to detect blood in the urine and to analyze cells in the urine looking for evidence of cancer
- biopsy the removal of a small piece of kidney tissue, done by inserting a needle into the tumor and drawing out a tissue sample, which is then sent to a pathology lab to rule out or confirm the presence of cancer
If you are found to have RCC, more tests will be done to find out if and where the cancer has spread. This is called staging. RCC is staged from stage 1 to stage 4, in order of ascending severity. Staging tests can include a bone scan, PET scan, and chest X-ray.
Approximately one-third of individuals with RCC have cancer that has spread at the time of diagnosis.
How Common Is Kidney Cancer
Each year an estimated 75,000 patients are found with a kidney tumor. Approximately 65,000 of these are ultimately found to be renal cell carcinoma .
The most common type is clear cell carcinoma. Renal cell cancer is not one disease but rather a collection of 15-20 types of renal tumors that can arise from the kidney. Kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in both men and women, and the risk for developing kidney cancer is higher in men than in women. More information about kidney cancer risk factors >
You May Like: How To Identify Basal Cell Carcinoma
Familial Renal Oncocytoma And Birt
Individuals affected with familial renal oncocytoma can develop bilateral, multifocal oncocytoma or oncocytic neoplasms in the kidney. Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome is a hereditary cutaneous syndrome. Patients with Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome have a dominantly inherited predisposition to develop benign tumors of the hair follicle , predominantly on the face, neck, and upper trunk, and these individuals are at risk of developing renal tumors, colonic polyps or tumors, and pulmonary cysts.
Key Trial Showed 32% Reduction In Risk Of Recurrence With Pembrolizumab

byMike Bassett, Staff Writer, MedPage Today November 18, 2021
The FDA approved pembrolizumab for the adjuvant treatment of renal cell carcinoma for patients who have an intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence following nephrectomy, or following nephrectomy and resection of metastatic lesions, the agency announced.
Approval was based on results from the KEYNOTE-564 trial, which demonstrated that adjuvant pembrolizumab following nephrectomy significantly improved disease-free survival , with 22% of patients in the immunotherapy arm experiencing events of recurrence or death versus 30% in the placebo arm .
“Despite decades of research, limited adjuvant treatment options have been available for earlier-stage renal cell carcinoma patients who are often at risk for recurrence. In KEYNOTE-564, pembrolizumab reduced the risk of disease recurrence or death by 32%, providing a promising new treatment option for certain patients at intermediate-high or high risk of recurrence,” said Toni K. Choueiri, MD, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in a news release from Merck, the drug’s manufacturer.
“With this FDA approval, pembrolizumab may address a critical unmet treatment need and has the potential to become a new standard of care in the adjuvant setting for appropriately selected patients,” added Choueiri, who reported results from study at the 2021 virtual American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.
You May Like: What Is The Most Aggressive Skin Cancer
How Is Renal Cell Carcinoma Treated
Like many of the tumors that can invade the kidneys, renal cell carcinoma is usually treated with surgery. This is often the best way to keep these growths from affecting kidney health and function.
A surgeon may remove just the cancerous tissue or some of the kidney or the entire kidney . Fortunately, most people can live healthy lives with one kidney or even most of one kidney.
Body-wide treatments on their own do not work as well as surgery. Even so, a treatment team might prescribe them along with surgery to kill any cancer cells left behind after surgery. These treatment options include:
- Chemotherapy uses cancer-killing drugs that are given either by mouth or by vein. These drugs are toxic to all living cells , so they can temporarily weaken the body. Side effects can include fatigue, hair loss, appetite loss, nausea, mouth sores and infection.
- Radiationuses high-energy light particles, such as X-rays or gamma rays, to destroy the cancer. While radiation is not the most effective treatment for renal cell carcinoma, doctors sometimes use it to ease symptoms in other areas of the body where the cancer has spread.
For people who cannot have or do not choose surgery, treatment options include the following:
The stage of the cancer will help doctors decide the best treatment. Other treatment factors include overall health, symptom relief and side effects.
What Is The Outlook For People With Kidney Cancer
The chance of recovery depends on the type and stage of cancer . The chance of recovery also depends on the patient’s general state of health.
Like most cancers, kidney cancer is most able to be treated if it is found in its early stages. In general, if the cancer is detected early, before it breaks through the outer covering of the kidney, kidney cancer is often curable.
Don’t Miss: Does Insurance Cover Skin Cancer Screening
What Types Of Discoveries About Chromophobe Kidney Cancer Do Tcga Researchers Hope To Make
- Identify unique patterns of genomic changes that distinguish this subtype of kidney cancer
- Examine genetic markers that may be predictive of metastasis
- Determine if a specific genomic signature is connected to tumor recurrence after surgery
- Genomically differentiate chromophobe kidney cancer and clear cell kidney cancer
- Gain understanding of the genomic basis of chromophobe kidney cancer to provide the foundation for the development of an effective form of therapy for patients
What Are The Types Of Kidney Cancer
The information in this document refers to renal cell carcinoma the most common form of kidney cancer. However, there are different types of kidney cancer, including:
- Renal cell carcinoma : This is the most common form of kidney cancer in adults and accounts for 85% of all kidney cancers. Renal cell carcinoma usually develops as a single tumor in one kidney, but it can affect both kidneys. Renal cell carcinoma begins in the cells that line the small tubes that are part of the nephrons within the kidneys. .
- Transitional cell carcinoma: Transitional cell carcinoma accounts for 6% to 7% of all kidney cancers. This cancer usually begins in the area where the ureter connects to the main part of the kidney. This area is called the renal pelvis. Transitional cell carcinoma also can occur in the ureters or bladder.
- Renal sarcoma: This is the least common form of kidney cancer, accounting for only 1% of kidney cancer cases. It begins in the connective tissues of the kidneys and, if not treated, can spread to nearby organs and bones.
- Wilms’ tumor: This is the most common type of kidney cancer in children. It accounts for about 5% of kidney cancers.
Don’t Miss: Osteomyoma
Other Types Of Cancerous Kidney Tumors
Less common types of cancerous tumors in the kidney include:
- Urothelial Carcinoma: arise from the renal pelvis and resemble bladder cancer cells. These are genetically similar to urothelial cancer of the bladder and have similar risk factors such as cigarette smoking and occupational exposures to certain cancer-causing chemicals.
- Wilms Tumor: a rare pediatric malignancy in children 2-5.
- Renal Sarcoma: a rare type of kidney cancer arising from the connective tissue.
- Benign Kidney Tumors
Some types of kidney tumors are benign meaning they do not have the ability to spread . Often these are treated unnecessarily. The UCLA Kidney Cancer Program is committed to identification and observation of these tumors:
- Renal Adenoma: small, slow growing, benign tumors < 1 cm.
- Oncocytoma: a renal tumor that can grow large but not spread. It often resembles kidney cancer on a biopsy. The UCLA Kidney Cancer Program has molecular imaging modalities to identify these types of tumors non-invasively.
- Angiomyolipoma: a benign tumor containing fat, vessels, and muscle. When large they can bleed so treatment is advised when > 4 cm.
Whole Grains And Starches
Whole wheat bread, wild rice, and whole wheat pasta are an excellent source of energy. Theyre also rich in fiber, iron, and B vitamins.
Some whole grains are high in phosphorus and potassium. Both of these can cause problems if you consume high doses of them while your kidneys arent fully functioning. So, its worth checking with your doctor about which whole grain foods may be best for you.
You May Like: Etiology Of Basal Cell Carcinoma
Risk Prevention And Early Detection Of Rcc
Individuals with inherited syndromes that predispose to RCC and long-term dialysis patients are at high risk but account for a minority of RCC cases. Algorithms of relative risk of RCC according to smoking status, body mass index and blood pressure have been investigated and a decrease in risk was observed for men who had stopped smoking for 30 years or more . The only evidence for the potential of chemoprevention for RCC are studies which show diets rich in fruit and vegetables as well as high vitamin D levels to be preventive . Candidates for a future chemopreventive strategy would be inherited RCC, ESRD patients and also RCC patients at high risk of recurrence.
Molecular early detection strategies must be designed with careful regard to the abundance of tumor cells in the clinical specimen as well as the frequency and timing of the alteration to be detected . LOH of 3p and point mutation of VHL are frequent and early in clear cell RCC but urine or blood contain a low ratio of DNA from renal tumor cells to DNA from normal cells that is insufficient for the robust detection of these alterations by polymorphic marker and sequencing analysis respectively. Because point mutations occur throughout the VHL gene, rather than at hotspots of particular codons like RAS, the design of more sensitive oligonucleotide molecular tests is very complicated. However, if a tumor cell-rich biopsy specimen is available, LOH and point mutation can be assessed as prognostic markers.
Types Of Renal Cell Carcinoma

The different types of renal cell carcinoma include:
- Clear cell renal cell carcinoma: This is the most common subtype of renal cell carcinoma and makes up about 70% of all cases. Under a microscope, these cells appear pale or clear.
- Papillary renal cell carcinoma: This is the second most common subtype and makes up about 10% of all renal cell carcinoma cases. It causes fingerlike projections to grow in the small tubes in the kidneys.
- Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma: This type makes up about 5% of renal cell carcinoma cases, and its cells appear pale or clear under a microscope.
- Collecting duct renal cell carcinoma
- Multilocular cystic renal cell carcinoma
- Medullary carcinoma
- Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma
- Neuroblastoma-associated renal cell carcinoma
Also Check: Basal Skin Cancer Survival Rates
Treatments For Renal Cell Carcinoma
There are five kinds of standard treatments for RCC. One or more may be used to treat your cancer.
Permission To Use This Summary
PDQ is a registered trademark. The content of PDQ documents can be used freely as text. It cannot be identified as an NCI PDQ cancer information summary unless the whole summary is shown and it is updated regularly. However, a user would be allowed to write a sentence such as NCIs PDQ cancer information summary about breast cancer prevention states the risks in the following way: .
The best way to cite this PDQ summary is:
PDQ® Adult Treatment Editorial Board. PDQ Renal Cell Cancer Treatment. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute. Updated < MM/DD/YYYY> . Available at: . Accessed < MM/DD/YYYY> .
Images in this summary are used with permission of the author, artist, and/or publisher for use in the PDQ summaries only. If you want to use an image from a PDQ summary and you are not using the whole summary, you must get permission from the owner. It cannot be given by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the images in this summary, along with many other images related to cancer can be found in Visuals Online. Visuals Online is a collection of more than 3,000 scientific images.
Recommended Reading: Does Skin Cancer Burn And Itch
Purpose Of This Summary
This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the genetics of renal cell carcinoma. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions.
Renal Cell Carcinoma Treatment: Whats New And What’s Next
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer. Most treatments are focused on clear cell carcinoma, which is the most common subtype of this disease.
Often, patients who are diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma when it is in its earliest stages can be successfully treated. But what are the treatment options for early-stage disease as well as renal cell carcinoma that has spread to other parts of the body? How do you know which treatment is right for you?
Heres what to know about current treatment options and new approaches being explored through clinical trials.
Active surveillance for renal cell carcinoma
If renal cell carcinoma is growing slowly, active surveillance may be an option, says Pavlos Msaouel, M.D., Ph.D. Patients under active surveillance will have checkups every few months and undergo imaging exams to see if the tumor is growing or spreading.
Some patients may be hesitant to choose this option, in fear of cancer spreading unchecked. But Msaouel says regular checkups generally make active surveillance a safe option.
Surgery, targeted therapy and immunotherapy could be options if the cancer advances, depending on your specific diagnosis.
Surgery is an option when renal cell carcinoma hasnt spread
Surgery to remove the affected kidney offers the highest chance for successful treatment when cancer hasnt spread.
Your kidneys filter blood and waste in our bodies and help produce urine. Since we have two kidneys, its possible to live with one.
Recommended Reading: Can Squamous Cell Carcinoma Metastasis
There Are Three Ways That Cancer Spreads In The Body
Cancer can spread through tissue, the lymph system, and the blood:
- Tissue. The cancer spreads from where it began by growing into nearby areas.
- Lymph system. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the lymph system. The cancer travels through the lymph vessels to other parts of the body.
- Blood. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the blood. The cancer travels through the blood vessels to other parts of the body.