EN
Nephroblastoma (Wilms’ tumor) is a tumor in kidney tissue. It develops most often in children: 5% of childhood cancer is kidney cancer. Statistics from the National Society of Pediatric Hematologists and Oncologists indicate that young children are prone to this disease: 70% of cases are in children from 1 to 5 years old, and 17% of cases are infants under 1-year-old. The younger a child is diagnosed with nephroblastoma, the better his or her chances of survival are.
HOW IS NEPHROBLASTOMA TREATED ABROAD?
The advantages of nephroblastoma treatment in foreign clinics are a guarantee that the doctor will use the most modern and proven treatment protocol. This ensures favorable results.
Nephroblastoma treatment is always personalized. Diagnostic results are taken into account when designing the treatment program:
general health state;
tumor state;
tumor genetics;
heredity;
environmental factors;
body dynamics.
HOW IS WILMS’ TUMOR DIAGNOSED?
The aim of the diagnosis is to determine the stage of cancer development, i.e. to what extent metastases have spread through the body. Also, the variant of nephroblastoma should be determined, which depends on the area of the kidneys affected. For this purpose, doctors perform 3 procedures:
Visualization through ultrasound / CT / MRI – the doctor gets a 3D picture of the kidneys.
MIBG scintigraphy – the patient is injected with radioiodine. This way the doctor can see if there is a tumor in the nervous system and distinguish it from the neuroblastoma.
Biopsy – doctors take tissue from the affected kidney. The biopsy is performed during the operation. Tissue analysis helps to predict how cancer will develop, what are the chances for recovery and whether there is a risk of relapse.
HOW IS NEPHROBLASTOMA TREATED?
chemotherapy;
radiotherapy;
surgical removal.
Doctors prescribe 2 courses of chemotherapy for Wilms’ tumor: before surgery, to reduce the size of the tumor, and after – to destroy the remaining cancer cells in the body.
The course of radiation therapy can be prescribed after the surgery. The main indication for radiotherapy is the presence of cancerous clusters in certain organs.
For the child to enter into a state of remission, the main tumor must be removed surgically. In the first stages, it is possible to only remove the tumor, without affecting the organ. In stages 3 or 4 of nephroblastoma, the doctor will have to remove part of the kidney or the entire organ.
If the tumor is large enough to affect the second kidney, doctors may decide to remove both organs. Doctors rarely use this option – in about 5% of cases. Afterward, the child will need a kidney transplant.
Learn more:STEM CELL TRANSPLANS FOR WILMS’ TUMOR
If the child has a relapse of the nephroblastoma, the doctors usually treat it with high-dose chemotherapy. Such procedure has negative effects on the bone marrow, damaging its blood cell production abilities. To avert such outcome, oncologists perform autologous stem cell transplant. This procedre allows to raise the survival rate of this type of cancer to up to 45%. Before the treatment, they gather the child’s healthy bone marrow stem cells. They gathered painlessly from the patient’s blood, and the procedure looks similair to blood transfusion. Afterward, the stem cells are selected in the laboratory. After the patient undergoes chemotherapy, their own cells are injected back into their body. They are fully functional and healthy, and there is zero risk of rejection, since these are the patient’s own cells.
MINIMALLY INVASIVE TREATMENTS OF NEPHROBLASTOMA
The main treatment for the Wilms’ tumor is surgery. With classical removal, the doctor makes deep incisions. Because of this, the child needs prolonged anesthesia, and recovery after the operation will take more time. Foreign clinics offer alternative methods of tumor removal and nephrectomy. They are more expensive, but children undergo such operations easier.
DA VINCI ROBOTIC SURGERY
It’s the most optimal method. The doctor remotely controls the robotic system. Its instruments are thinner than the surgeon’s fingers and aren’t shaking. This allows performing removal through incisions that are several millimeters in size. This surgery is 50-60 minutes faster and small incisions heal within a month.
KIDNEY TUMOR LAPAROSCOPIC REMOVAL
The doctor makes 3 cuts up to 10 millimeters in diameter. Through them, he guides his instruments. The rehabilitation period after removal of the neoplasm by laparoscopy is 2-3 months shorter.
Other less common methods of cancer removal:
| CRYOABLATION | freezing and laparoscopic removal of the kidney |
| RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION | tumor removal with a radiofrequency scalpel |
| LASER VAPORIZATION | vaporization of the tumor with a laser |
HOW EFFECTIVE IS NEPHROBLASTOMA TREATMENT ABROAD
The National Society of Pediatric Hematologists and Oncologists offers proven statistics on the 5-year survival rate of children with Wilms’ tumor.
94 – 98% of children live 5 years after stage 1 nephroblastoma treatment;
85 – 93% of children live 5 years after stages 2 and 3;
41 – 84% of children live 5 years after stages 4 and 5.
Nephroblastoma is not a sentence. With adequate treatment, the chance of relapse is very low. The child will grow up like an ordinary kid and be able to learn on an equal footing with other children.
The child will have minor dietary and lifestyle restrictions. For example, they will need to see an oncologist regularly:
immediately after treatment – once every 3 months;
2 years after treatment – once in 6-9 months;
5 years after treatment – once a year.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO TREAT A CHILD’S NEPHROBLASTOMA?
The price of nephroblastoma treatment depends on the patient’s condition and tumor development. Leave your contacts to MediGlobus coordinators to find out the individual cost of nephroblastoma treatment. Estimated prices for the treatment of Wilms’ tumor in children:
| Procedure | Cost |
| Chemotherapy | from $2,200 (per course) |
| Radiotherapy | from $6,500 (per course) |
| Partial nephrectomy | from $14,000 |
WHERE CAN YOU CURE WILMS’ TUMOR?
Good clinics for treating child nephroblastoma:
Sourasky Medical Center in Israel;
Liv University Hospital in Turkey;
Freiburg University Hospital in Germany;
Fortis Hospital in India;
Teknon Medical Center in Spain;
Wiener Private Clinic in Austria.
MediGlobus works with more than 230 clinics in 23 countries worldwide. With our help, a patient can sign up for treatment at any clinic to any doctor. We will help promptly and accompany you from the first call to the end of treatment.
If your child has nephroblastoma, you can’t hesitate. Adequate treatment at the right time will save his life and ensure many years of remission. Leave your contacts to the MediGlobus coordinator doctors and we will contact you.
