Care and mobility considerations
Treatment of stage 1, 2 or 3 renal cancer
The majority of people in this group will have had surgery as treatment of their disease. The recovery time form these operations are up to 12 weeks. There are not usually any long term side effects of this type of surgery except those listed under surgery in the treatment section. Chemotherapy is sometimes used in the treatment of transitional cell cancer but not renal cell cancer; it may prolong recovery to 8-9 months or rarely give rise to enduring side effects. Recovery of normal function is expected in the typical case. Radiotherapy is rarely used so the long term side effects of these treatments are unlikely to be a problem for this group.
Stage 4, advanced or recurrent renal cancer after treatment of any stage of the disease
The majority of people are terminally ill; the median survival for this group is 10 months with treatment. The five year survival is 10%.
They may experience any of the following symptoms related to their kidney cancer:
- Haematuria(blood in the urine)
- Anaemia, this may be recurrent due to repeated bleeding and causes extreme fatigue and difficulty walking around
- Pain from invasion by the tumour and ‘clot colic’ this is pain from blockage of the ureter by blood clots and can be severe
There may be disabling effects from metastatic disease anywhere in the body including:
- Liver metastases – these may cause fatigue and in the later stages, mental confusion, abdominal swelling or pain and jaundice
- Lung metastases or malignant pleural effusion – may cause very disabling breathlessness reducing mobility to a few yards.
- Brain metastases – these may cause fits, personality change, confusion, difficulties with balance, walking and self care
- Bone metastases – pain and pathological fractures – this is a common cause of serious disability in this group.
Note: This guidance does not cover Wilms tumour (a type of kidney cancer) and any such cases in adults must be discussed with Medical Services.
Amended October 2011
