Kidney Cancer Care at Levine Cancer

When you or a loved one is facing kidney cancer, you need specialized care that delivers the best chance at a healthy future.

Atrium Health Levine Cancer has you covered: We’re home to one of the Southeast’s only teams specializing in kidney cancer, with experts who have seen every kind of kidney cancer in every type of patient – and we offer some of the region’s best success rates. This deep experience means we can develop a tailored plan that supports you from diagnosis to recovery.

A Team Approach for Every Type of Kidney Cancer

No matter what type or stage of kidney cancer you’re facing, we use a collaborative approach that brings multiple experts together to develop a treatment plan that’s right for you. Every other week, our specialists meet to go over every patient’s case. This lets us evaluate patients from every angle, trade ideas and match you with the optimal treatments.

Our kidney cancer treatment team includes:

• Genitourinary oncologists trained in treating cancers in the urinary tract, including renal cell carcinoma and urothelial carcinoma. Patients travel from across the region to see our experts, which means we’ve helped many people with even the most rare and advanced cancers.
• Medical oncologists who treat cancer using chemotherapy, immunotherapy and other therapies.
• Radiation oncologists who use radiation to target and kill cancer cells.
• Nurse navigators who help patients and caregivers with everything from understanding treatment options to finding lodging and transportation.
• Radiologists who use imaging technology such as X-rays and MRIs to diagnose and monitor disease. We’re home to radiologists who specialize in looking at cancer. This gives your doctors the best possible information to guide your treatment.
• Other specialists including genetic counselors, cancer-focused surgeons, anesthesiologists and more.

Leading-Edge Kidney Cancer Treatments

Some kidney cancers grow so slowly that they never need treatment. Others grow quickly and need to be removed. We have the experience to know the difference – and to make sure you get right care for your disease. We offer:

Nonsurgical Kidney Cancer Treatments

We start many patients with active surveillance, where we take images of tumors every few months to make sure they’re not growing. When tumors need to be removed, our first step is to explore nonsurgical options like:

• Percutaneous cryotherapy, which uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy tumors without the risks of surgery. Our specialized radiologists perform this procedure regularly and typically send patients home the same day.
• Immunotherapy, which activates your immune system to fight back against cancer. We offer the latest immunotherapies including checkpoint inhibitors to tackle your cancer with minimal side effects.
• Radiation therapy, which we administer in precise, targeted doses to shrink and kill cancer cells. We often use this treatment for patients who aren’t healthy enough to undergo surgery, or to ease cancer side effects like pain.

Surgical Kidney Cancer Treatments

If you need surgery to remove kidney cancer, we offer advanced options:

• Partial nephrectomy, which removes tumors without removing the entire kidney. We’re leaders in using robot-assisted surgery to make this procedure less invasive and more precise.
• Open partial nephrectomy, where surgeons remove kidney tumors through an incision. We have many years of experience using this technique to help patients who have multiple kidney tumors or who have already had a kidney removed.
• Radical nephrectomy: When patients need an entire kidney removed, our expertise in robotic-assistance makes the procedure more targeted and less invasive, which helps you recover faster.

Clinical Trials for Kidney Cancer

Our doctors don’t just offer the latest therapies – they use clinical trials to develop new ones. These trials give you access to the latest, most innovative treatments. We do our best to match patients with clinical trials that might be right for them, and our doctors are constantly expanding our portfolio of late-breaking treatments. Explore our current clinical trials.

Support Services for All Your Needs

We know that cancer affects all aspects of your life – from your finances to your mental health. That’s why we offer support programs to enhance all aspects of your well-being:

• Individual and group counseling to help you cope with cancer and keep a positive outlook.
• Nurse navigators who help patients with everything from understanding their diagnosis to arranging transportation.
• Integrative medicine approaches like acupuncture, massage therapy, mindfulness and yoga.
• Healing arts programs, like writing and art classes, which have been shown to boost wellness and healing during treatment.
• Nutritional support with registered dieticians who can help you find foods that keep your body strong during treatment and recovery.
• Survivorship services that help you thrive long-term by addressing the issues you face after successful cancer treatment.

For more information, or to make an appointment, please call 980-442-6410.