Optical Biopsy to Improve the Diagnosis of Kidney Cancer

Data from the American Cancer Society shows a 70% increase in incidence of kidney and renal pelvis cancer between 2000 and 2010. This increase is attributed to small renal masses (SRM) that are incidentally discovered by abdominal radiological imaging. However, 30% of resected SRMs appear benign on histological examination. Conventional biopsy is currently used to provide pathological information prior to resection. However, its non-diagnostic value is high, up to 33% in SRMs, showing the need for diagnostic improvement. The investigators have shown that optical biopsy (OB) can differentiate malignant from benign tissue and tumor subtypes. However, translation to the clinic requires a phase 2 clinical study. The investigators will use an OB probe that can be combined with a needle puncture during classical biopsy procedures, additionally providing real time micro-scale images containing quantitative information about tissue properties. The investigators are convinced that OB will greatly improve the diagnosis of renal tumor pathology.