Kidney cancer staging lets doctors know if and how much the cancer has spread. Staging systems also give doctors a common language for describing tumors.
After you are diagnosed with kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma), we use a series of tests to understand the cancer’s stage. Renal cell carcinoma staging helps us record the size, aggressiveness and growth of a cancer. It also helps us determine the best plan for treatment.
Why Kidney Cancer and Renal Cell Carcinoma Staging Is Important
Staging renal cell carcinoma helps us:
- Figure out the extent of the cancer
- Compare your situation to other patients with kidney cancer
- Review clinical studies with patients in similar stages to determine how the cancer may behave and treatments may work
Doctors use cancer staging to help determine a patient’s prognosis (predicted outlook). They also tend to treat certain stages of cancer similarly based on evidence-based practices. Learn more about kidney cancer treatment.
How Is Kidney Cancer Staged?
To stage kidney cancer, we use information gathered from:
- Physical exams
- Blood and urine tests
- Imaging tests, such as CT scans and MRIs
- Procedures such as a kidney biopsy
At the Abramson Cancer Center, our pathologists (lab specialists) and radiologists (imaging specialists) are kidney cancer experts. They use all their time and energy to gather the information needed to give people with urologic cancers detailed and accurate diagnoses. Their experience with every stage of kidney cancer helps them identify key details that improve treatments.
Read more about kidney cancer diagnosis.
What Are the Stages of Kidney Cancer?
The stages of kidney cancer are:
- Stage I: The kidney tumor is less than 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) and has not spread.
- Stage II: The kidney tumor is greater than 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) and has not spread.
- Stage III: The tumor (any size) is in the kidney and nearby lymph nodes or in the blood vessels and surrounding kidney tissue.
- Stage IV: The cancer has spread to lymph nodes, other organs or to the adrenal gland above the kidney.
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