Will my kidney have to be removed if I have stage 4 kidney cancer?

Surgery isn't often used to treat stage 4 kidney cancer, but if it's used, the entire kidney must be removed. Because stage 4 tumors are usually large, the entire kidney is removed in a procedure called a nephrectomy. Since the cancer has spread, the nephrectomy may also involve removing the nearby tissue and lymph nodes. Most of the time, however, stage 4 kidney cancer has spread too far beyond the kidney, so removing the kidney won't really make a significant difference.