Kidney Cancer
Treatment in Malaysia
Kidney cancer begins when healthy cells in 1 or both kidneys change and grow out of control, forming a mass called a renal cortical tumor.
Why Choose Onco Life Centre?
Expertise You Can Trust, Innovation You Can Count On
Over 20 Years of
Experience
Our highly-qualified consultant oncologists boast extensive experience treating a vast array of cancers. Their training at prestigious institutions in Australia and the UK ensures exceptional expertise that you can trust.
Collaboration with
Leading Genomics Experts
For complex cases, our oncologists collaborate with leading genomics specialists in the US. This ensures access to the latest treatments for all cancer types.
Unmatched
patient experience
You and your healthcare experience are at the centre of what we do at Onco Life Centre. Our core values of Empathy, Dedication, Professionalism and Service Quality have driven us since our earliest days.
Treatment Methods
Our kidney cancer experts at Onco Life Centre can discuss your treatment options and recommendations based on several factors, including staging, the type, cell type, and stage of cancer, patient preferences and overall health.
Treatment for kidney cancer is most often with surgery, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or a combination of these. Occasionally, radiation therapy and chemotherapy regimens for renal cell carcinoma are also used. Patients with kidney cancer that has spread (metastatic kidney cancer) often receive multiple lines of treatments.
If the cancer has not spread beyond the kidneys, surgery to remove the tumor, part or all of the kidney, and possibly nearby tissue and lymph nodes, may be the only treatment necessary. The types of surgery used for kidney cancer include the following procedures.
- Radical nephrectomy
Surgery to remove the tumor, the entire kidney, and surrounding tissue is called a radical nephrectomy. If nearby tissue and surrounding lymph nodes are also affected by the disease, a radical nephrectomy and lymph node dissection is performed. - Partial nephrectomy
A partial nephrectomy is the surgical removal of a tumor. This type of surgery preserves kidney function and lowers the risk of developing chronic kidney disease after surgery. - Laparoscopic and robotic surgery (minimally invasive surgery)
During laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon makes several small incisions rather than the 1 larger incision in the abdomen to completely remove the kidney or perform a partial nephrectomy. - Radiofrequency ablation (RFA)
Sometimes surgery is not recommended because of tumor characteristics or the patients overall health. RFA is the use of a needle inserted into the tumor to destroy the cancer with an electrical current. - Cryoablation
Cryoablation is the freezing of cancer cells with a metal probe inserted through a small incision. The metal probe is placed into the cancerous tissue.
Targeted therapy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a treatment that targets the cancer’s specific genes, proteins, or the tissue environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival. This type of treatment blocks the growth and spread of cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy cells.
- Anti-angiogenesis therapy
This type of treatment focuses on stopping angiogenesis, which is the process of making new blood vessels. Because a tumor needs the nutrients delivered by blood vessels to grow and spread, the goal of anti-angiogenesis therapies is to starve the tumor. Talk to our kidney cancer specialists about FDA approved anti-angiogenesis drugs that have been shown to slow down tumor growth for people with metastatic renal carcinoma (stage 4 kidney cancer). - Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs)
Clear cell kidney cancer has a mutation of the VHL gene that causes the cancer to make too much of a certain protein, known as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF controls the formation of new blood vessels. Drugs called TKIs help block VEGF and other chemical signals that promote the development of new blood vessels. Please call to talk to our kidney cancer oncologists about FDA approved TKIs, which are indicated for use in treatment for clear cell kidney cancer. - mTOR inhibitors
The FDA has also approved drugs that target a certain protein that helps kidney cancer cells grow, called mTOR. Studies show that these drugs slow kidney cancer growth.
Please click here to learn more about Targeted Therapy
Immunotherapy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), is designed to boost the body’s natural defenses to fight cancer. It uses materials made either by the body or in a laboratory to improve, target, or restore immune system function.
A type of immunotherapy, called checkpoint inhibitors, works by taking the brakes off the immune system so it is better able to destroy the cancer. These drugs use antibodies directed at specific molecules found on the surface of immune cells, such as programmed death-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4).
Please click here to learn more about Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy for renal cell carcinoma is the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells, usually by stopping the cancer cells ability to grow and divide.
Systemic chemotherapy for kidney cancer gets into the bloodstream to reach cancer cells throughout the body. Although chemotherapy is useful for treating most types of cancer, kidney cancer is often resistant to chemotherapy. However, researchers continue to study new drugs and new combinations of drugs.
Radiation therapy is the use of high-energy x-rays to destroy cancer cells. Most often, radiation therapy is used when the cancer has spread to help ease symptoms, such as bone pain or swelling in the brain. The most common type of radiation treatment is called external-beam radiation therapy. When radiation treatment is given using implants, it is called internal radiation therapy or brachytherapy. Another type of radiation therapy is stereotactic radiosurgery, which is designed to direct the radiation therapy to a specific area without damaging nearby tissue.
Treatment By Stage
In general, stages 0, 1, 2 and 3 colorectal cancer are often curable with surgery. However, many patients with stage 3 colorectal cancer, and some with stage 2, receive chemotherapy after surgery to increase the chance of eliminating the disease. Patients with stage 2 and 3 rectal cancer will also receive radiation therapy with chemotherapy either before or after surgery.
Stage 0 colorectal cancer
The usual treatment is a polypectomy, or removal of a polyp, during a colonoscopy.
Stage 1 colorectal cancer
The usual treatment is a polypectomy, or removal of a polyp, during a colonoscopy.
Stage 2 colorectal cancer
Surgery is often the first treatment. Patients with stage 2 colorectal cancer can talk to our oncologists at Onco Life Centre about whether adjuvant chemotherapy is needed after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells. For patients with stage 2 rectal cancer, radiation therapy is usually given in combination with chemotherapy, either before or after surgery.
Stage 3 colorectal cancer
Treatment for stage 3 colon cancer usually involves surgical removal of the tumor followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. For patients with rectal cancer, radiation therapy may be used along with chemotherapy before or after surgery, along with adjuvant chemotherapy.
Metastatic (stage 4) colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer can spread to distant organs, such as the liver, lungs, the tissue called the peritoneum that lines the abdomen, or a woman’s ovaries. Our oncologists at Onco Life Centre will help you tailor your treatment plan, which may include a combination of surgery, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy. If the colorectal cancer has spread only to the liver (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) and if surgery is possible either before or after chemotherapy, there is a chance of complete cure. Even when curing the cancer is not possible, surgery may add months or even years to a person’s life. Determining who can benefit from surgery for cancer that has spread to the liver is often a complicated process that involves doctors of multiple specialties working together to plan the best treatment option. The role of immunotherapy for advanced colon cancer treatment has been promising. Using immuntherapy in patients with mismatch-repair-deficient mutations or microsatellite instability in their tumors has shown remarkable results. An immunue-checkpoint inhibitor can be used on its own, or in combination with CTLA4 inhibitor for such patients.
Transparency You Can Trust
At Onco Life Centre, we understand the financial burden associated with Kidney Cancer treatment. We are committed to transparency and will provide you with a personalized cost estimate during your initial consultation. Here is an estimate :
Targeted Therapy:
At Onco Life Centre, the cost for treating kidney cancer using targeted therapy for most of our patients is about MYR5,000 per cycle.
Immunotherapy
The cost of immunotherapy for kidney cancer can range from MYR10,000 and above depending on the specific type and dosage of immunotherapy drug used.
Types of kidney cancer
There are several types of kidney cancer:
Renal cell carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma (also commonly known as renal cancer or renal cell cancer) is the most common type of adult kidney cancer, making up about 85% of diagnoses.
Transitional cell carcinoma
This is also called urothelial carcinoma. It accounts for 10% to 15% of the kidney cancers diagnosed in adults.
Sarcoma
Sarcoma of the kidney is rare and develops from the soft tissue of the kidney or the capsule or surrounding fat.
Wilms tumor
This is most common in children and is treated differently than kidney cancer in adults.
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is associated with enlarged lymph nodes in other parts of the body, including the neck, chest, and abdominal cavity. In rare cases, kidney lymphoma can appear as a lone tumor mass in the kidney and may include enlarged regional lymph nodes.
Types of kidney cancer cell
The most common types of kidney cancer cells are listed below:
Clear cell
About 70% of kidney cancers are made up of clear cells. Clear cells range from slow growing to fast growing. Clear cell kidney cancer is particularly responsive to immunotherapy and targeted therapy.
Papillary
Papillary kidney cancer develops in 10% to 15% of patients.
Sarcomatoid features
Each of the tumor subtypes of clear cell, chromophobe, and papillary in kidney cancer can show highly disorganized features under the microscope, also described as sarcomatoid which suggest a very aggressive form of kidney cancer.
Medullary/collecting duct
This is a rare and highly aggressive cancer that is more common in black people and is highly associated with having the sickle cell trait.
Chromophobe
Chromophobe is uncommon and may form indolent tumors.
Oncocytoma
This is a slow-growing type of kidney cancer that rarely, if ever, spreads.
Your Journey
Start Your Recovery
Our dedicated Patient Navigator will assist you with appointment scheduling. Contact us at +6012-3993260 (Call or Whatsapp ).
First Consultation
On appointment day, bring along all the medical reports and your identity documents, ie. identity card or passport. Our team will help you organize the medical reports for our oncologist to review. Our oncologist will discuss the treatment plan with you. Tele-consult is available for overseas patients.
Treatment Day
Come to our center on an agreed date and time for the treatment. Our team will take good care of you. You will be discharged on the same day. Yes, you will get to go home after every treatment visit as no overnight admission is required.
Stay on Track
Our dedicated patient navigator will be following up with you post treatment to check on your condition, to ensure that you are doing well. You will receive a reminder message on your phone for the next appointment date.
Credentials You Can Trust
Ministry of Health Malaysia
Onco Life Centre is fully licensed as an Oncology Consultation and Treatment Centre (License No: 931401-00214-03/2024)
DR. CHRISTINA NG VAN TZE
MBBS (MELB), FELLOW RACP (AUS)
DR. JOSEPH KANIANTHRA JOSEPH
MBBCH, BAO (IRE), MRCP (UK)
I have been coming to OncoLife centre with my mother. She is under the care of Dr Christina since diagnosis and has been on targeted therapy and is doing well. Dr Christina Ng has been guiding my mum through her treatment and is quick to suggest changes if needed. She is also very ready to hear our concerns and will always take our preference into consideration. Communication with the staff is good and we can readily ask them questions at any time. The atmosphere of the clinic is also pleasant which makes waiting around not such a chore. Parking is readily available in the building. Overall, Onco Life is very patient centred and I am very thankful to Dr Christina and her team for the support they have given my mum and the family.
My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer about 6 months ago at a hospital in KL. We were all very scared, worried and felt very lost at the same time. A friend suggested that we seek advice from Dr Christina Ng at Onco Life Centre. During our first consultation, Dr Christina had explained patiently to us that my mother has stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and it has spread to her liver and lung. She had suggested for my mother to promptly start on combination chemotherapy. We were initially worried about chemotherapy side effects. Dr Christina had explained to us that she would carefully select drugs which my mother would likely tolerate well. Much to our surprise, my mother was very well & energetic throughout her chemotherapy course. After 3 months of chemotherapy, she did a CT scan which showed a significant reduction in all tumor deposits in pancreas, liver, lungs & peritoneum. We are grateful towards Dr Christina Ng & her Team for giving us a great hope.
My husband was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer more than one year ago. He started treatment at another hospital but his condition worsened and he became fully dependent on oxygen support over 6 months. That was when we became very anxious and worried. We wanted to seek a second opinion and thus found Dr Christina Ng at Onco Life Centre. Dr Christina immediately adjusted his immunotherapy treatment protocol whilst actively treating his worsening infection. After 4 months under the care of Dr Christina, his condition has improved significantly and he is now totally off oxygen support. We are grateful that he is being given a new lease of life.
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