Drug shrinks kidney tumors, may spare patients from full organ removal

This study tested the drug axitinib in 22 people with a type of kidney cancer (clear cell renal cell carcinoma) who needed surgery but had complex tumors that made it hard to remove only the cancerous part. The goal was to see if taking axitinib before surgery could shrink the tumor enough to allow a partial nephrectomy (removing just the tumor) instead of removing the whole kidney. The study measured tumor shrinkage, changes in tumor complexity, and how many surgeries were successful.