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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Renal medullary carcinoma (SMARCB1-deficient) says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Renal medullary carcinoma is a rare kidney cancer of young people with the sickle cell trait, driven by loss of SMARCB1. Platinum chemotherapy and removing the kidney are the main treatments. Most have spread when found; in the 52-patient series median survival was 13.0 months, 16.4 with nephrectomy against 7.0 without. So few centres see it that a trial and a second opinion are worth asking for. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Platinum-based chemotherapy and nephrectomy where possible; no proven targeted or immune therapy; trials where available.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.