Kidney Tumors

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What are kidney tumors?

Kidney tumors happen when cells in the kidneys grow out of control and form a lump (mass). The kidneys are a pair of organs near the bottom of the rib cage. Kidneys filter blood, removing waste and making pee (urine).

Doctors often do not know exactly what causes these tumors to start and grow. Tumors can be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign). Kidney tumors are rare in children and teens. When a tumor grows in a child’s kidney, it is likely to be cancerous.

In children younger than 12 years, most kidney cancers are Wilms tumor. This tumor is more common in children younger than 5 years old.

The chance of kidney tumors is higher in people with certain , such as WT1-related disorders and Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome. Children at higher risk should be screened regularly using ultrasound until they are 7 to 8 years old. Our Cancer Predisposition Clinic screens and cares for children born with an increased risk of cancer.

Other types of kidney cancer
These other types of kidney tumors are very rare but do happen in children and teens:
- Renal cell carcinoma (mainly affects teenagers and adults)
- Clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (most often seen in children under 4 years)
- Rhabdoid tumor of the kidney (mainly affects children under 4 years)
- Renal medullary carcinoma (most often seen in children with sickle cell trait and, rarely, in patients with sickle cell disease)

What are the symptoms of kidney tumors?

These symptoms may be caused by a kidney tumor or by another problem. Check with a doctor about any of these:

A in the belly
Pain in the belly
Blood in the pee

Cancer and Blood Disorder Care at Seattle Children's

Our team treats babies, children, teens and young adults, including those with the hardest-to-treat cancers and blood disorders. We provide treatment options that many centers do not offer.

How are kidney tumors diagnosed?

To look for tumors or areas where cancer is active, doctors may use , , or . These take pictures of the inside of your child’s body.

To help diagnose a kidney tumor, the doctor may also:

Check for signs of illness
Ask about overall health
Test blood or urine to look for signs of kidney tumors

Stages of Kidney Tumors

It is important to find out how large a tumor is and how far cancer has spread. This process is called staging. Knowing the stage of cancer helps your doctor plan the right treatment.

Staging is based on these factors:

If the tumor has grown beyond the kidney or burst in the belly
If doctors can remove all of the tumor during surgery
If both kidneys have tumors
If cancer cells have spread from the tumor to other parts of the body

Your doctor can tell you about the staging system used.

How are kidney tumors treated?

Our goal of treatment is to give each patient the best chance of a long and healthy life. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks our Cancer and Blood Disorders Center among the top pediatric oncology programs in the country.

We will tailor treatment to your child’s unique needs, based on:

Their age and health
The tumor size and location
Features of the cancer cells under a microscope
If the cancer cells have genetic changes that are considered high-risk
Your child’s genetic background and risk for other tumors or kidney problems
Your family’s preferences

Treatment Options for Kidney Tumors

Our Solid Tumor team provides the most advanced treatments for kidney tumors in our region. Options include medicine (), surgery and with X-rays and . The most common treatments for kidney tumors are surgery and chemotherapy.

As national leaders in cancer research, we can offer our patients the very latest treatments being studied. Depending on the diagnosis, options may include research studies of new medicines or new mixes of medicines. We have one of the nation’s largest pipelines of CAR T-cell immunotherapy trials for children and young adults.

Surgery
Surgery is often the first treatment for a kidney tumor. Our urology and general and thoracic surgery teams have performed hundreds of surgeries to remove kidney tumors from children, teens and young adults.

Most often, tumors only affect 1 kidney. The surgeon may remove:
- The kidney with the tumor
- The tube from the kidney to the bladder (ureter)
- The fat around the kidney
- Lymph nodes near the kidney to find out how far the cancer may have spread
During surgery, doctors may check other areas for cancer, such as the liver and the other kidney. They may remove all tissue that appears to have cancer.

In some cases, doctors cannot remove the whole tumor. It may be too large, or the cancer cells may have spread to nearby tissue. Instead, doctors take a small sample of tumor cells for a to learn more about the tumor. They may recommend to shrink the tumor before removing it. If a child is at higher risk for kidney disease or has a higher risk to develop other tumors, doctors may shrink the tumor with chemotherapy. This allows for a smaller surgery that leaves more of their kidney in place.

Rarely, both kidneys are affected. Doctors use chemotherapy first to shrink the tumor. Then surgeons will remove the tumor while leaving the healthy kidney in place. Very few of these patients need a kidney transplant. Seattle Children's Kidney Transplant Program has been named a Center of Excellence by Optum's Clinical Sciences Institute and a Program of Excellence by Cigna LifeSOURCE.

Learn more about surgery to treat tumors at Seattle Children’s. Surgery is done at our main hospital campus in Seattle.
Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy refers to medicines that kill cancer cells.

Your doctors may suggest chemotherapy to shrink the kidney tumor or to kill cancer cells that might be elsewhere in the body.

Most often for kidney cancer, we give these medicines through a vein (called intravenous or IV). The medicine enters the bloodstream and treats cancer cells in the whole body. The type of chemotherapy depends on the type and stage of tumor.

We provide chemotherapy at our main hospital campus in Seattle, often as a day procedure, at our outpatient infusion center.

See more about getting chemotherapy at Seattle Children’s.
Radiation therapy, including proton therapy
Doctors use radiation as part of treating:
- Wilms tumors that have spread to other parts of the body
- Some other kidney tumors that are considered high risk
Radiation therapy uses high-energy particles to kill cancer cells. A machine sends a dose of radiation into the body. Doctors aim the radiation at the place where they know or suspect there is cancer.

The best radiation treatment depends on the type of tumor. For some people, proton therapy may be an option. We offer this treatment at the only proton therapy center in the Northwest.

Our are very experienced in caring for children, teens and young adults. They help your team decide if radiation may be helpful and what type of radiation to use.

Learn more about Seattle Children's Radiation Therapy Service.

Research and Clinical Trials for Kidney Tumors

Many children, adolescents and young adults choose to take part in research studies while receiving their standard medical treatment. These studies are called clinical or therapeutic trials.

As leaders in research groups like the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), we can offer our patients the very latest treatments being studied. Your doctor will talk with you about any treatment options that might help. Then you can decide whether you want to take part in a research study.

Our researchers are studying:

The safe amount of new drugs to give patients.
New noninvasive tests to diagnose kidney tumors earlier.
The best ways to predict which people have a higher risk for kidney disease or future kidney tumors.
Whether new treatments or techniques work better than current treatments.
The and of Wilms tumor.
Long-term outcomes for children who have had successful treatment.
Ways to reprogram the body’s infection-fighting T cells to find and destroy cancer cells. We offer phase 1 clinical trials of CAR T-cell immunotherapy (STRIvE). Immunotherapy may be an option for children and young adults with kidney tumors that are difficult to treat (refractory) or that come back after treatment (relapsed).

Learn more about cancer clinical trials at Seattle Children’s

Find many clinical trials offered at Seattle Children’s on our Current Research Studies page or on ClinicalTrials.gov. Read our guide about searching for trials on ClinicalTrials.gov (PDF).
Contact us at 206-987-2106.
Email us.
Read more about cancer research and clinical trials at Seattle Children’s.

Follow-up Care for Kidney Tumors

Follow-up care is important after treatment ends. The follow-up routine will depend on the type of tumor and treatments.

Most people who had cancerous tumors visit Seattle Children’s for follow-up care for 5 years. If you live far from Seattle, you may get some follow-up care from a cancer doctor in your own community.

Our Cancer Survivor Program provides long-term follow-up care to help young people stay healthy after being treated for cancer in childhood.

During follow-up visits at Seattle Children’s, your team will:

Look for any signs that cancer is returning
Check for effects that may happen months or years after treatment
Tell you about any risk for other cancers and signs to watch for

Why choose Seattle Children's for kidney tumor care?

The most experienced pediatric Solid Tumor team in the Pacific Northwest will tailor care to your child’s unique needs. Our doctors have treated hundreds of young people with kidney tumors with excellent results.

The experts you need for comprehensive care

We treat more pediatric cancer than any other center in the region. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks our Cancer and Blood Disorders Center among the best pediatric oncology programs in the country.

As leaders in cancer research, we offer a range of the very latest treatment options being studied in clinical trials (phase 1 and 2). This includes STRIvE immunotherapy developed here at Seattle Children’s.

You will benefit from the work of physician-scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and UW Medicine, as well as at Seattle Children’s. The National Cancer Institute has named our partnership a comprehensive cancer center. Our physician-scientists are also at the leading edge of kidney tumor research and learning how to diagnose them earlier and more effectively.

Very rarely, a kidney transplant is needed if both kidneys have tumors. Seattle Children's Kidney Transplant Program has been named a Center of Excellence by Optum's Clinical Sciences Institute.

Specialists in caring for children and young adults

Our specialty is treating disease in children and young adults while helping them grow up to be healthy and productive adults.

Our team cares for the whole person. We don’t just treat disease. Specialists in nutrition, pain management, palliative care, pharmacy, physical therapy and emotional health will provide care as needed. Read more about the supportive care we offer.

We tailor care to your child and family, based on the type of tumor, how far it has spread, the genetic changes in the tumor, your child’s risk for developing tumors and kidney disease, and your family’s preferences.

Children, teens and young adults do not react to illness, injury, pain and medicine in the same way as older adults. They need — and deserve — care designed just for them. We plan treatment based on years of experience and the newest research on what is best and safest.

We know that teens and young adults with cancer have different challenges than young children. Our Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Program works to meet their needs, which may include fertility preservation.

Our experts focus on how treatments today affect growing bodies in the future. Dr. Eric Chow chairs the Outcomes and Survivorship Committee of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). The COG is a worldwide group of childhood cancer specialists who work to develop new treatments and reduce late effects of cancer and its treatments.

Support for your whole family

Being diagnosed with a kidney tumor can be scary. We help take positive steps right away by offering appointments soon, especially to those who might have cancer and need to be seen urgently.

During visits, we take time to explain this condition. We help you fully understand your treatment options and make the choices that are right for your family.

Our doctors, nurses, child life specialists and social workers help your family through the challenges. We connect you to community resources and support groups.

At Seattle Children's, we work with many families from around the Northwest and beyond. Whether you live nearby or far away, we can help with financial counseling, schooling, housing, transportation, interpreter services and spiritual care. Read about our services for patients and families.