Discussions with the care team around radiation as a treatment option for patients with renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer, should focus on its advantages and disadvantages, in addition to how these can best meet patient needs, an expert said.

Renal cell carcinoma, according to the National Cancer Institute, is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults. The disease starts in the lining of the small tubes in the kidney that return filtered substances back to the blood that the body needs.

Radiation for renal cell carcinoma can be used to manage symptoms and control disease in a minimally invasive manner.

CURE ®spoke with Dr. Chad Tang, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, to learn more about radiation therapy as a treatment option for patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Transcript:

So I think — radiation is a local therapy. It takes care of an anatomical site in terms of controlling it or removing the disease. I think the other local therapy options out there are surgery and IR-based interventions, interventional radiology-based interventions, such as ablation through heat or through cold.

The advantage of radiation is that it's non-invasive. It requires no anesthesia or even sedation for most patients to treat. And it can be relatively quick, although it might take a week or two for the radiation to be completed.

One disadvantage is that you're not going to give tissue-like surgery, and maybe the effects of radiation may not be as immediate in terms of relieving symptoms as physically removing the tumor.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.