New NCCN Guidelines for Patients and NCCN Quick Guide for Kidney Cancer published

Kidney Cancer is among the 10 most diagnosed cancers in both men and women in the United States, and it is estimated that more than 60,000 new cases of kidney cancer will be diagnosed in 2015.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) has published the NCCN Guidelines for Patients® and NCCN Quick Guide™ for Kidney Cancer, the newest addition to the library of NCCN patient education resources. Made available through support of the NCCN Foundation® and, in part, through general sponsorship from the Kidney Cancer Association, the NCCN Guidelines for Patients and the NCCN Quick Guide™ for Kidney Cancer are available to download free of charge on NCCN.org/patients; for information about print copies, visit NCCN.org/patients.

"It is our hope that NCCN's new patient education resources for kidney cancer will help ease the burden following diagnosis by offering patients and their caregivers an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to cancer treatment," said Marcie R. Reeder, MPH, Executive Director, NCCN Foundation. "The NCCN Foundation is grateful to Kidney Cancer Association for their generous support of these resources."

The NCCN Guidelines for Patients, translations of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), are designed to provide people with cancer and their caregivers state-of-the-art treatment information in easy-to-understand language. The NCCN Guidelines® are developed by multidisciplinary panels of experts from NCCN Member Institutions and feature algorithms that address appropriate management options from initial work-up through the course of the disease.

NCCN Guidelines for Patients and the NCCN Quick Guide™ series, abbreviated references outlining key points of the NCCN Guidelines for Patients, are written according to plain language principles to improve health literacy, and the design and format feature patient-friendly elements, such as medical illustrations alongside descriptions of body parts, tests, and treatments. NCCN Guidelines for Patients®: Kidney Cancer also features an expansive glossary of terms and acronyms. The NCCN Guidelines for Patients and the NCCN Quick Guide™ series do not replace the expertise and clinical judgment of the physician.

NCCN currently offers NCCN Guidelines for Patients for the following: Breast, Colon, Esophageal, Kidney, Non-Small Cell Lung, Ovarian, Pancreatic, and Prostate Cancers; Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia; Caring for Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA); Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia; Lung Cancer Screening; Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma; Melanoma; Multiple Myeloma; and Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Through philanthropy, the NCCN Foundation empowers people through knowledge and advances the mission of NCCN to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of cancer care, so that patients can live better lives.

Source: National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)