Episode 60: Kidney Cancers, Cysts and Benign Tumors

This episode follows 2 Kidney Cancer expert Urologists in understanding Kidney tumors from diagnosis to treatment options. 

Guest:

 

John L. Gore, M.D. Professor of Urology, Professor of Surgery, Health Services Researcher, University of Washington. Urologist, surgeon, clinician, researcher, educator and expert in clinical care guidelines and outcomes. Dr. Gore is the PI of a large pragmatic trial in bladder cancer, and a quality of care expert. He previously served as the American Urological Association (AUA) representative to the National Quality Forum, which endorses national health care performance measures, and has been on guidelines panels for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) for kidney cancer, and the AUA for bladder cancer.

 

Brian Shuch, MD is the Director of the Kidney Cancer Program and the Alvin & Carrie Meinhardt Endowed Chair in Kidney Cancer Research.

He completed his urology training at UCLA followed by a Urologic Oncology Fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. He is an accomplished surgeon (open/laparoscopic/robotic surgery and percutaneous ablations) and clinical/translational researcher.

He serves in leadership positions within various kidney cancer research organizations such as SWOG and the Society of Urologic Oncology. He is recognized as an expert in the genetics of kidney cancer and runs a translational research program with over 140 peers reviewed publications including primary research published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research. He is one of the few clinicians to bring bench science to the bedside in an upcoming therapeutic clinical trial for metastatic kidney cancer.

 

During This Episode We Discuss:

The types of Kidney Cancer

 

Non cancerous kidney cysts (benign) versus cancerous kidney cysts,

 

Solid kidney tumors, benign and malignant

 

Diagnosis of kidney cancers: Imaging and Biopsy

 

Risk factors for kidney cancers

 

Genomics of kidney cancer

 

Treatment of kidney cancer: Localized and Metastatic

Quotes (Tweetables)

Back in the olden days we used to talk about the triad of three symptoms people associated with kidney cancer. Those three symptoms were hematuria or blood in the urine, palpable mass, and flank pain. Realistically in 2023 this triad happens less than 1% of the time. What has changed is that there is a much higher frequency of use of imaging to diagnose problems in our bodies. Kidney cancer is one of the fastest growing cancer types in terms of it’s incidence, because of incidental detection.

                                                                                 Dr Gore

 

Regarding tumor size, it all depends on the scenario.The larger the lesion the more concerning it is for cancer, but even a 1 cm tumor can have some aggressive elements. There is not an absolute size where you say that a tumor below this threshold cannot be a cancer.

                                                                               Dr Shuch

Most kidney cancers are what we would call sporadic, in that it occurs in the absence of known risk factors. The 2 biggest risk factors that are more behavioral are smoking and obesity.

                                                                                Dr Gore

                                                                              

Recommended Resources:

 

KCA: Kidney Cancer Association www.kidneycancer.org

 

Kidney Can www.kidneycan.org

 

KC Cure  www.kccure.org

 

American Cancer Society

 

Fred Hutchinson

 

UCLA