There are various ways to find out if a person has kidney cancer. They include:

• Medical history and physical exam. The health care provider asks about the person's medical history. He or she also asks about the person's family history of kidney cancer and other conditions that may be related to kidney cancer. The health care provider will also do an exam.
• Urine test. For this test, a small amount of urine is collected in a container. It is then tested for blood, protein, bacteria, and cancer cells. 
• Blood tests. There is no blood test that can diagnose kidney cancer. But a complete blood count (CBC) and blood chemistry test can show signs in the blood that are linked with kidney cancer.
• Imaging tests. These are tests used to take pictures of the inside of a person's body. They include CT scan, ultrasound, Intravenous pyelogram (IVP), angiography, and other tests.
• Biopsy. During a biopsy, the health care provider removes a small piece of the tumor. A pathologist then looks at this sample under a microscope. For kidney cancer, the type of biopsy used is called fine needle aspiration (FNA). In most cases, if a CT scan or an MRI shows possible kidney cancer, surgery is most often done to remove the tumor or the entire kidney. The pathologist then looks at the tissue taken during surgery to confirm the diagnosis.