Kidney Tumors
Current Research

Kidney Tumor Research and Treatment Innovations

Physicians and researchers in the Kidney Tumor Program work with colleagues at Cincinnati Children’s and around the world to develop innovative treatments for children with kidney cancer. Areas of research include:

  • Developing new anticancer drugs and targeted radiation therapies
  • Understanding why some tumors grow and spread to other parts of the body
  • Understanding how cell molecules work together to fight kidney cancer or cause it to spread
  • Developing new genetic testing technologies to improve the way doctors diagnose and treat kidney cancer

Cincinnati Children’s offers many clinical research opportunities for children with kidney tumors. Some of our advanced experimental therapies may be an option for children whose kidney tumor does not respond to therapy or comes back after treatment.

Many of our advanced therapies are available through our participation in national and international research studies. Some of the anticancer treatments we offer are available here years before they are widely available. Our team works closely with the Children’s Oncology Group, which operates the nation’s largest portfolio of clinical trials for pediatric cancer, and the National Cancer Institute’s new Pediatric Phase I Consortium. We are the only hospital in Ohio, and one of just a few nationwide, to offer pediatric Phase I clinical trials of the newest cancer therapies.

View a list of current clinical trials:

Quality Verification in Wilm’s Tumor

Wilm’s tumor is one of the most common pediatric abdominal cancers. With the advent of multi-modal therapy there is an excellent survival rate. Therapy generally involves a combination of surgery chemotherapy and sometimes radiation. The children’s oncology group (COG) has developed clear criteria for an adequate resection of a Wilm’s tumor.

It is known that about 15 percent of patients in the COG had a surgical protocol violation, the majority of these violations were due to the lack of lymph node sampling. This is a significant risk because if the lymph nodes are not sampled and are positive, the child would be undertreated for the stage of their disease and risk tumor recurrence.

Cincinnati Children’s cancer committee has been auditing the procedures performed at Cincinnati Children’s to ensure quality surgical procedures and adherence to the protocol. Operative and pathologic data were examined for all patients undergoing Wilm’s tumor resection over the past 10 years. It was noted that in all cases proper surgical protocols were followed and lymph nodes were sampled. It is imperative to do intermittent assessment of surgical quality to ensure that patients are receiving the best care possible.

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