Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma

Patients with Stage 4 renal cell carcinoma have cancer that has spread from the kidney to other sites. Renal cell carcinoma, or kidney cancer, can grow where it started and invade nearby tissues. It can spread from the kidney into the large vein that drains the blood from the kidney (the renal vein). From there it can spread into a large vein that empties into the heart (the inferior vena cava). It can also grow from the kidney into the adrenal gland, which sits on top of the kidney. When it spreads, the lungs and bones are the most common sites, and occasionally the liver. (It’s still called renal cell carcinoma, even though it’s moved somewhere else.)