Close monitoring of renal tumors may provide alternative to surgery
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 - 13:20
in Health & Medicine
In patients likely to have surgery, close, active monitoring of small renal tumors confined to the kidneys is associated with low rates of tumor growth or death, scientists say. The incidence of kidney cancer in the United States has been increasing for two decades, with the trend partly attributed to the introduction of abdominal imaging studies such as CT scans or MRIs in the 1980's. However, death rates due to renal cell carcinoma (kidney cancer) have not decreased, indicating that surgery may be of little or no benefit to some patients.