Radiotherapy For Renal Cell Carcinoma

Radiotherapy can shrink a larger cancer.

Radiotherapy for renal cell carcinoma.

Traditionally renal cell carcinoma rcc has been considered a radioresistant tumor and therefore radiation therapy rt was mainly confined in treatment of metastasis. When radiation therapy is used to treat kidney cancer it is usually external beam therapy ebrt which. New advances in rt techniques including stereotactic irradiation have made encouraging contributions in the oncologic scenario opening up new opportunities in rcc management. If your doctor does recommend it ask about possible side effects and how to manage them.

This relieves pressure on nearby organs or nerves that may be causing pain. These drugs enter your blood and reach nearly all areas of the body which makes this treatment potentially useful for cancer that has spread metastasized to organs beyond the kidney. This is because kidney cancer is less sensitive to radiation than some other types of cancer. The radiation dose is precise and very concentrated which is the best way to eliminate kidney cancer cells.

Sometimes other treatments will be tried first instead. Stereotactic radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy sbrt have led to a resurgence of the use of radiotherapy in the management of advanced renal cell carcinoma rcc. Radiation therapy uses high energy rays or particles to kill cancer cells. It can also help with bone pain if the cancer has spread to your bones.

You might have radiotherapy to help control the symptoms of advanced cancer such as pain or blood in the urine. Historically renal cell carcinoma has been considered radioresistant. These techniques provide excellent local control and palliation of metastatic sites of disease with minimal toxicity. Radiation is sometimes used to treat kidney cancer if a person is not healthy enough to have surgery or has only one kidney.

Radiotherapy is not often used for kidney cancer. It s a less common treatment since kidney cancer typically resists chemotherapy. However in the past decade evidence has grown that a high dose given in one or a few fractions stereotactic body radiotherapy can overcome resistance. Most evidence in favour of stereotactic body radiotherapy for renal cell carcinoma comes from single institution reports.

Radiation causes key changes to immune cells in kidney cancer tumors. T cells in tumors are expanded in blood shortly after radiation then decrease. You can receive the therapy in one to five daily treatments and igrt works well with chemotherapy or between chemotherapy cycles. Radiation therapy rt has traditionally been disregarded in the primary or adjuvant treatment of renal cell carcinoma rcc but recent advances have necessitated a re examination of the role radiation therapy may be able to play.