Diagnosis
If you are experiencing symptoms of kidney cancer, our team at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center will ask about your health history, your family’s history of cancer and risk factors. We may perform diagnostic tests to help determine if you have kidney cancer. Unlike most types of cancer, kidney cancer can often be diagnosed without a biopsy.
Instead, diagnostic tests may include one or more of the following:
- Urine test (urinalysis), a test to see if a small sample of your urine has blood.
- Blood tests, including a complete blood count (CBC) and blood chemistry test. Though no blood test can diagnose kidney cancer, they can show signs in the blood that are linked with kidney cancer, such as too few or too many red blood cells or high levels of blood calcium or liver enzymes.
- Computed tomography (CT or CAT) scan, a test that uses a combination of X-rays and software to create images of your body. It will help to discover if your cancer has spread into show if cancer has spread to your spine or brain.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a test that uses magnets and radio waves to create detailed images of your body and see if cancer has spread to your spine or brain.
- Ultrasound, a test which uses high-energy sound waves to create detailed images of your body and suggest if cancer is present.
- Intravenous pyelogram (IVP), a test that uses a special dye and X-rays to look at the kidneys, ureters and bladder.
- Angiography, a test that uses a special dye and X-rays to look at the kidneys and determine if the tumor can be surgically removed.
- Fine needle aspiration (FNA) or biopsy, a test that removes tissue or fluid using a thin needle.
Learn more about diagnostic tests, post-diagnostic tests and our center’s overall diagnosis process.
Stages of Kidney Cancer
After receiving a diagnosis of kidney cancer, our team will try to determine your stage of cancer. The stage of cancer describes how much and far the cancer has spread in your body. It is one of the most important things to know when deciding how to best treat your cancer, including whether your cancer can be removed (resected) with surgery. You may need additional diagnostic tests to help our team formally assign a stage to your cancer, which is dependent upon the size and spread of the cancer.
The AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) TNM staging system (Stages 0–IV) is commonly used for kidney cancer. A higher number, such as IV, means a more advanced cancer.
- Stage I: This stage of kidney cancer is only found in the kidney and is up to 2.75 inches (7 centimeters) in diameter.
- Stage II:This stage of kidney cancer is only found in the kidney and is up larger than 2.75 inches (7 centimeters) in diameter.
- Stage III:This stage of kidney cancer has spread beyond the kidney to surrounding tissue, major veins or nearby lymph nodes.
- Stage IV:This stage of kidney cancer has spread beyond the kidney to one or more lymph nodes or other organs, such as the bowel, pancreas or lungs.
Kidney cancer may also be described in terms of one of the following categories:
- Localized: This stage of kidney cancer is only found in the kidney.
- Regional: This stage of kidney cancer has spread to tissues around the kidney, as well as lymph nodes and blood vessels in the pelvis
- Metastatic: This stage of kidney cancer has spread to other, distant parts of the body.
Learn more about the stages of kidney cancer and receiving support upon diagnosis.
