Can surgery stop kidney cancer in its tracks?

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed renal cell carcinoma (RCC) * Patients have clinical reasons for undergoing a surgical resection of tumor; there are two main categories of patients: * Patients with fully resectable disease as defined by lesions accessible by a surgeon during no more than two separate surgical sessions, and are expected to be rendered surgically no evidence of disease (NED) * Patients undergoing a noncurative procedure for relief of symptoms or for management of threatening lesions * Patients have been deemed resectable by the subspecialty surgeon involved in the patient's care * Patients must give written informed consent prior to initiation of therapy, in keeping with the policies of the institution; patients with a history of major psychiatric illness must be judged able to fully understand the investigational nature of the study and the risks associated with the therapy; the only approved consent is attached to this protocol * Patients must have ability to comply with study and/or follow-up procedures * Members of all races and ethnic groups are eligible for this trial Exclusion Criteria: * Patients must not have active acute infections that could be worsened by surgery or interfere with this study * Patients must not have clinically significant cardiovascular disease, or peripheral vascular disease that creates an unacceptably high operative risk * Patients must not have history of other diseases, metabolic dysfunction, physical examination finding, or clinical laboratory finding giving reasonable suspicion of a disease or condition that contraindicates surgical resection, or render the subject at high risk from treatment complications * Patients must not have a history of uncontrolled severe depression