For most patients, this means taking out the kidney that has the cancer. With improved x-ray techniques and ultrasound, kidney cancers are being found earlier. This has allowed surgeons to take out many small tumors before they can spread. Now, patients who have surgery for a small tumor that has not spread have an 82 percent chance of a cure. This is a very good survival rate when compared to most cancers.
Several choices are available.
Sometimes, the surgeon can remove just the part of the kidney that has the cancer. Patients have lived for many years with this treatment. Some patients have even had a kidney transplant after a few weeks of treatment with hemodialysis. A person who gives a kidney to a relative with kidney failure can live a normal life with only one kidney. So can you as long as your other kidney was not diseased before the surgery.