Cancer of the kidney is a disease that will kill if left untreated. The only reliable treatment is removal of the kidney, although there are a number of exciting developments. There are many different ways in which the disease will present, but quite frequently the lump in the kidney will be found as an incidental finding during a scan that has been requested for an unassociated problem. Once found, a lump in the kidney will be "staged", usually be carrying out a test known as a CT scan. This will give the doctor looking after you an impression as to how far the disease has spread (if at all), which will help determine the best treatment for your condition. Surgery (which increasingly may be carried out laparoscopically) is likely to be recommended, but some of these tumours are very slow growing, and simple monitoring of the problem may well be recommended in some cases.