The PARTIAL study is looking at the side effects of two different types of surgery for kidney cancer; removal of the whole kidney (radical nephrectomy) and removal of part of the kidney (partial nephrectomy).

It is open to people:

Who have an early stage kidney tumour (up to 7 cm in diameter on a CT scan)
And the tumour has not spread outside the kidney.

The aims of the study are to find out:

How well the kidney, or kidneys, work after surgery
How good the type of surgery is at getting rid of the cancer
More about side effects of surgery
How the two different surgeries affect quality of life
How much it costs to have each type of surgery. This is both how much it costs the NHS to do the operation. And how much it costs people taking part for things such as travel to the hospital for appointments.

There are 34 sites in this trial across England, Scotland and Wales. 9 new sites have recently been included in the study.

If you have early stage kidney cancer and have not yet had surgery, and you are interested in taking part in this study, please visit our clinical trial database or respond to this post with your questions:

The REFINE study is looking at whether giving immunotherapy less often to patients with advanced cancer is easier to tolerate but works just as well. Two immunotherapy medicines, called nivolumab and pembrolizumab, are being looked at in two different types of cancer: kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma, RCC) and melanoma.

Immunotherapy medicines are a standard treatment option for advanced kidney cancer, bladder cancer, melanoma and some lung cancers. These drugs work by stimulating the body's own immune system to fight against cancer cells. Clinical trials have proven how well immunotherapy medicines, such as ipilimumab, nivolumab or pembrolizumab, work for the treatment of different cancers. However the best way to give these drugs is not known.

This study is for people who have kidney cancer (clear cell or papillary) or melanoma that has spread (locally-advanced or metastatic) and that cannot be removed with surgery. They have already been treated ipilimumab plus nivolumab as a first-line treatment for 12 weeks and have no disease progression. Patients are due to start maintenance treatment with nivolumab alone.

This study aims to find out:

How effective the new treatment schedule is at delaying or slowing the growth of the cancer
Survival time on the new treatment schedule
The quality of life of patients on the new treatment schedule
More information about the safety of nivolumab and pembrolizumab and the side effects of these treatments
The cost of these treatments.

There are 26 sites open across England, Wales and Scotland. 17 new sites have opened recently.

If you are interested in taking part in this study, please visit our clinical trial database for more information or respond to this post with your questions:

We have been out and about again. Last week we joined Lucie Broome the renal oncology lead CNS and the health care professionals from The Royal Surrey Cancer Centre in Guildford and supported them in hosting a kidney cancer patient day.

The day was a great opportunity for patients and carers to connect with each other, share their experiences of living with kidney cancer and find out about, treatments, dietary advice, exercise and much more....

Everyone who attended found the day to be insightful and very beneficial and they cannot wait to attend the next one!

#kidneycancer #bypatientsforpatients #StrongerTogether