If you have kidney cancer, should you keep the kidney or not?

  For most kidney cancer patients, the most confusing thing is that they have kidney cancer, but they do not know what kind of treatment to choose. However, many patients are at a loss as to whether to choose total or partial kidney resection. If they choose to remove the whole kidney, they are afraid that the tumor will grow on the opposite kidney in the future, or they are worried that they only have one kidney left and cannot maintain the daily metabolic function of the kidney; if they choose to partially cut the kidney, they are worried that the tumor will not be cut cleanly and will recur or metastasize in the future. For these concerns, in fact, clinicians have long established standard treatment guidelines, and they have been proven to be effective in a large number of clinical treatments.  At present, for kidney tumors less than 4cm in diameter, it is the absolute indication for partial nephrectomy. Most of the kidney tumors less than 7cm can also be treated by partial nephrectomy, and it is more suitable for tumors growing on the surface of kidney with exophytic growth. In fact, the cure rate of renal tumors less than 7 cm by partial nephrectomy is comparable to that of total nephrectomy. In terms of postoperative recovery, partial nephrectomy significantly preserves the kidney function of patients. The kidney is like a human sewage treatment plant, and the kidney units are the workshops of this huge plant. the contralateral kidney a chance to rest.  Nowadays, most of the partial nephrectomies are done laparoscopically, which makes it possible for patients to undergo this procedure with the advantages of less trauma, less intraoperative bleeding, faster recovery and shorter hospital stay. During the operation, the surgeon will remove the tumor along the kidney tumor envelope, and then carefully remove the tumor along the channel established by minimally invasive surgery, without breaking the tumor envelope during the whole process, so as to achieve the purpose of radical treatment. Finally, the tumor will be removed and the kidney will be closed with absorbable thread, usually in three layers from the inside out.  Nowadays, there are more and more patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and these diseases are the diseases that lead to the deterioration of kidney function, as the saying goes, “if you keep the green hills, you are not afraid of no firewood”, so the significance of kidney excision is particularly important.