Percutaneous biopsy facilitates modern treatment of renal masses.
Contemporary approaches to cancer therapy have moved away from a one-size-fits-all model. Precision treatments are based on patients and their individual tumor characteristics. In general, incidental renal masses fall into three categories: aggressive cancers, indolent cancers, and benign tumors. Treatments may include surgery, thermal ablation, or observation. Choosing the best treatment based solely on radiologic information is uninformed and unnecessary, and may lead to overtreatment of benign tumors or inappropriate treatment of aggressive tumors. Percutaneous biopsy is a safe and effective tool that provides prognostic information about unknown masses to guide treatment decision making. The first step for improving personalized treatments for small renal masses is clear: increase utilization of pretreatment renal mass biopsy.
Department of Urology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, UW Medical Foundation Centennial Building, 1685 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705-2281, USA. abel@urology.wisc.edu.
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Jason Abel
D055011:Ablation Techniques; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D061705:Image-Guided Biopsy; D033162:Incidental Findings; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery
Ablation; Biopsy; Incidental renal mass; Renal cell carcinoma; Surveillance