What happens now?

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Hi all, my 76 year old mum just been diagnosed with kidney cancer which has fused the kidneys , and it’s spread to adrenal, lungs and liver… she’s being sent for a MRI now, what’s the purpose of this ? What are the typical treatment options for this ? Appreciate that every person if different, just trying to process and understand the risk here. 

TIA

  • Hi  

    Welcome to our community I hope you find it as useful a support as I did. My wife's cancer is quite different but MRI scans are quite common to look at soft tissues all over the body you can read a bit about them here. They can be challenging though as the machine is quite noisy and is very close to the body but the people doing it will take care to make sure your mum is as comfortable as possible.

    There is quite a lot of information on kidney cancer on the main site here perhaps the key element for your mum at the moment might be around the staging and grading part of the process. 

    Changing the subject totally - how are you? We often talk on here about a tsunami of diagnosis and I know in the past I have needed quite a lot of help. To be the best for our loved ones it is important we remember to look after ourselves too.

    <<hugs>>

    Steve

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  • I'm wondering what you mean by 

    fused the kidneys

    As it's spread to other organs, immunotherapy is frequently the treatment for this scenario, not surgery.  

    CT scan is frequently the scan mechanism used, but MRI is better in some circumstances, depending on the area scanned and what they are looking for.  I think it's more detailed for some areas.   But then, once spread they frequently go for a biopsy to determine the cancer type so as to pick best treatment approach.  Like you say, everyone different.   I would expect surgery for this situation because of the spread.  

  • Hi Steve, thanks for the info and for asking.

    It’s a roller coaster as we all know

    Paul 

  • Fused the kidneys … the cancer has spread between the two kidneys 

    appreciate your response 

    Paul 

  • Wow, I've never heard of that before.  All the best.