[Guest]

Hi, I had my left radical nephrectomy in 2000, I was told that after the kidney was removed I should have had radiation therapy to kill any cells that was left. Is this true?

[Guest]

It is my understanding that such a recommendation was not uncommon (and seems logical) in 2000. I cannot find any hard data supporting an improved outcome for a typical renal cell carcinoma, however.
See below:

[Radiotherapy of kidney pelvis and ureteral cancers]
[Strahlentherapie bei Nierenbecken- und Ureterkarzinomen.]
Urologe A 1986 Jan;25(1):7-11
(ISSN: 0340-2592)
Muller RP; Schnepper E
The indications and possibilities of radiotherapy in carcinomas of the renal pelvis and the ureter are demonstrated. Based on the literature and our own experience in 22 cases, postoperative radiotherapy should be performed in cases of deep infiltrating carcinomas, after subtotal surgery, and in cases with lymph node metastases. The radiation dose applied should be 50-55 Gy to the tumor bed and 45 (-50) Gy to the regional lymph nodes. Local recurrences can be greatly diminished without severe complications. Therefore, postoperative radiotherapy in carcinomas of the renal pelvis and the ureter can be recommended.

[quote] Hi, I had my left radical nephrectomy in 2000, I was told that after the kidney was removed I should have had radiation therapy to kill any cells that was left. Is this true... [/quote]

[Guest]

I had my radical nephrectomy in July of 2001, and have had no follow-up treatment whatsoever. My surgeon told me that renal cancer does not respond to chemo or radiation. Now I live in Canada, where there seems to be a different school of thought concerning this, as it is common in the US to follow our surgery with aggressive treatments of interleukin-2. My understanding is that it is used for palliative purposes only, to try to minimize pain in terminal patients. I am assuming that your surgeon felt all of your visible cancer had been removed? Mine did, and although I have had close follow-up with respect to regular chest x-rays and cat-scans, I am luckily in complete remission - even though my cancer was stage 3. You too?
[quote] Hi, I had my left radical nephrectomy in 2000, I was told that after the kidney was removed I should have had radiation therapy to kill any cells that was left. Is this true... [/quote]

[Guest]

Hi, My surgeon told me that all my cancer was removed. Sorry to say he was wrong. He did not offer radiation as a follow-up. How I understand it now is radiation after the nephrectomy could have helped some. But not after the cancer moves to other parts of your body. I had a mass removed from my lung and so far so good. My oncology has been talking to me about IL2. This treatment does not sould too good. The ods of this treatment working very slim.
You are lucky to have a good Dr. My frist Dr. never did a chest x-rays or a cat-scan.It was over a year before I had a scan of any kind done. By than it was to late it was in my lung. I also have a mass next to the heart.I will pray that you will remain in complete remission. Please let me know how you are doing.God be with you.
[quote] I had my radical nephrectomy in July of 2001, and have had no follow-up treatment whatsoever. My surgeon told me that renal cancer does not respond to chemo or radiation... [/quote]

[Guest]

I am so very sorry about your metastases, but I am happy that your second surgery was successful. I pray that you will remain free of cancer from now on. IL2 is a brutal regimen, but it has been known to help some people. You are quite right, unfortunately, about RCC being very difficult to treat once it spreads. The post-surgical radiation is used, I have researched, to try to prevent a local recurrence, which is rare anyway, as any recurrence tends to happen in other body organs (the lungs, the bones, etc.) as, sadly, it did in your case. So it's hard to say if radiation would have prevented your recurrence.
As difficult as it is, I urge you to stay as positive as you can. Losing hope, or allowing fear to overrun your life, means letting the Monster defeat you. Every time I read about another RCC survivor succumbing to a recurrence of the disease, it rattles me. I try not to freak out, but the fact is that this cancer has a high rate of recurrence, especially if the primary tumour was large or stage 3 (both of which mine was). Thank you so much for your kind wishes. If you would like to keep in touch with me or other cancer survivors and caregivers, share information and experiences, find a shoulder to cry on, or just vent, please visit this site: http://groups.msn.com/CancerSurvivorsOnlineNow/generalbd.msnw God bless.

[quote] Hi, My surgeon told me that all my cancer was removed. Sorry to say he was wrong... [/quote]