When is a kidney tumor biopsy necessary?
A kidney tumor biopsy should be carefully considered by a doctor before being performed, because it can cause dangerous consequences, even affecting the patient's life.
Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Hoang Duc (Head of Urology Department - Urology - Nephrology Center of Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City) said that most people understand that having a tumor requires a biopsy. However, kidney tumors are different from other types of tumors in the body because this is a rather special part.
A biopsy of a kidney tumor is done by removing one or more tissue samples from the tumor. First, the patient is given local anesthesia, then the doctor will use a needle through the patient's skin, combined with ultrasound or CT guidance. The tissue samples are then sent to a laboratory and analyzed under a microscope by a pathologist.
The medical team is preparing for a biopsy. Photo: Tam Anh General Hospital
However, during the biopsy of a kidney tumor, there may be a situation where the biopsy needle is taken into an area where there are no cancer cells, so the results are not accurate. In addition, the kidneys are the most perfused organs in the body. All blood in the body flows through the kidneys to filter out toxins and retain essential nutrients. Manipulating the needle through the kidney parenchyma to take cells during biopsy sometimes causes bleeding in the kidney, if severe, can be life-threatening.
Given these two risks, renal biopsy is not widely indicated. This technique is only performed in cases where the doctor suspects that the kidney tumor has spread from another place; suspected tumor in systemic disease such as lymphoma; The tumor is too large for surgery, so a biopsy is done to determine the nature of the tumor and consider the use of chemotherapy.
Therefore, to overcome this limitation, abdominal CT scan and MRI can help determine the nature of kidney tumors as benign or malignant in 90-95% of cases.
If the kidney tumor is benign, small in size and causing no symptoms, your doctor may recommend periodic monitoring. When CT or MRI images suggest malignancy, if the tumor is less than 4cm, the ideal treatment is laparoscopic resection, without removing the whole kidney.
Laparoscopic surgery has many advantages such as small incision, pain relief, short hospital stay and preservation of kidney function. In particular, the effectiveness of cancer treatment is not different from that of open surgery.
Doctor Hoang Duc is consulting a patient at the Urology clinic. Photo: Tam Anh General Hospital
The cause of malignant kidney tumors is still unknown. However, risk factors for the disease are often thought to be genetic; unhealthy living habits (smoking, unbalanced diet and sedentary causes overweight); working environment exposed to hazardous chemicals; people with kidney disease requiring dialysis; Long-term use of pain relievers...
Doctor Hoang Duc advised, even though it is determined to be a benign kidney tumor , patients should still be re-examined on time or when abnormal signs are detected to receive timely treatment. Many cases of benign tumors can become malignant over time. Therefore, the sooner the examination and detection, the more helpful in maintaining the patient's health.