Kidney cancer d/g from an MRI?

[imSatanhonest]

Hello, I'm just wondering if someone could shed some light on this situation for me please?

My DS's dad has text me saying he's been for the results of an MRI scan and the doctor said he has kidney cancer? He's been told he will have keyhole surgery towards the end of the year.

Just for context, me and DS's dad have been separated for years but still all very amicable. He went to his hospital appointment with a support worker as he has MH issues.

I've asked him if he's been given a date for a biopsy and if he's been given any leaflets or been signposted to any support services. No, nothing.

So my questions are:
Can a cancer diagnosis be given from an MRI with no biopsy?
Should he have been given info on support services at this stage?

I'm just finding it hard to believe they would give this diagnosis and then just send you on your way.

I've tried googling the NICE guidelines for kidney cancer but it looks as though there's currently some process in place for them being drawn up and they won't be available online until 2025.

We don’t tend to biopsy for kidney cancer, as for local disease surgery is curative and renal biopsies are not without risk. For small masses, it’s straightforward keyhole surgery that will remove part of the kidney and we would do that anyway for most masses in the absense of serious risk factors for the surgery. CT is our usual imaging choice for renal masses (not MRI), but most renal masses are picked up incidentally- patients come in with another complaint and we then find a renal mass. We would not necessarily say that it’s cancer at this stage - they are small renal masses if they are localised to the kidney itself.

Definitive diagnosis is done by the pathologist after surgery. We usually do surgery within 30 days of identification of a mass that we want out.

Thank you, that's very helpful! Yes, he had the scan for a cyst and then they found the mass on the bottom of his kidney.