What are the Chances that my Small Kidney Mass is NOT Cancer?
About 1 in every 4 small kidneys masses is benign – meaning it is not a cancer.
This means that if 100 people were to have surgery to remove the full tumor, 25 out of 100 people would have a serious surgery that did not help them.
The chances of a cancer will vary based on the size of the small kidney mass. About half of small kidney tumors that are one-half an inch in size are benign, while masses larger than 1 inch are much more likely to be cancer.
What Does it Mean to Have a Benign Tumor?
There are different types of benign tumors.
Benign means that even if nothing is done to treat the tumor, it will not spread to other parts of the body and you will not die from it.
What Happens to Benign Tumors?
Most types can grow but will never affect how you feel or how your kidneys work.
Less than 5 out of 100 people (Less than 5%) will require some form of treatment because of bleeding caused by the tumor. This means that 95 out of 100 patients will not have any bleeding problems or need any treatment.
