Immediate Surgery or Surgery After Sunitinib Malate in Treating Patients With Metastatic Kidney Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically confirmed renal cell cancer (RCC) * Clear-cell subtype with a resectable asymptomatic in situ primary * Asymptomatic primary is defined as the absence of symptoms\* which can be exclusively assigned to the primary tumor such as flank pain and/or gross hematuria necessitating blood transfusion NOTE: \*Para-neoplastic symptoms cannot be assigned to the primary tumor alone in metastatic disease, they are not included in this definition. * No symptomatic primary tumor necessitating nephrectomy * Resectable primary tumor * Bulky locoregional lymph node metastases larger than the primary tumor allowed provided resectability of the lymph nodes is surgically feasible * Metastatic RCC * Distant metastases are not completely resectable at the time of surgery or during an additional intervention * No multiple distant lesions at one site * No bone-only metastases * Measurable disease, both primary and metastatic, according to RECIST 1.1 criteria * Planning to receive sunitinib malate as background therapy * Patients with \> 3 of the following surgical risk factors are not eligible: * Serum albumin CTCAE v 4.0 grade 2 or worse * Serum LDH \> 1.5 times upper limit of normal * Liver metastases * Symptoms at presentation due to metastases * Retroperitoneal lymph node involvement * Supra-diaphragmatic lymph node involvement * Clinical stage T3 or T4 disease * No clinical signs of CNS involvement PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * See Disease Characteristics * WHO performance status 0-1 * Life expectancy \> 3 months * WBC \> 3.0 x 10\^9/L * Platelet count \> 100 x 10\^9/L * Hemoglobin \> 10.0 g/dL * PT/PTT or INR ≤ 1.2 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times ULN * ALT ≤ 2.5 times ULN (≤ 5 times ULN if liver lesions) * Serum calcium \< 10.0 mg/dL * Calculated or measured creatinine clearance \> 30 mL/min * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception 2 weeks before and during study treatment * LVEF normal by MUGA scan or ECHO * 12-lead ECG normal * No serious cardiac illness (myocardial infarction and/or treatable or untreatable angina pectoris not responding to treatment) within the past 12 months * No uncontrolled, high BP (≥ 150/100 mm Hg) despite optimal medical therapy * No current pulmonary disease * No active or uncontrolled infections, serious illnesses, malabsorption syndrome, or medical conditions, including patients with a history of chronic alcohol abuse, hepatitis, HIV, and/or cirrhosis * No malignancies within the past 5 years except renal cell carcinoma, basal or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, carcinoma in situ of the cervix, resected incidental prostate cancer staged pT2 with Gleason Score ≤ 6 and postoperative PSA \< 0.5 ng/mL, or patients with any history of malignancies who are disease-free for more than 5 years * No psychological, familial, sociological, or geographical condition potentially hampering compliance with the study protocol and follow-up schedule PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * Prior local radiotherapy for bone lesions allowed * No prior systemic therapy for metastatic RCC * No prior partial or total nephrectomy * No concurrent systemic corticosteroid and/or other immunosuppressive systemic therapies * No concurrent radiotherapy, except palliative radiotherapy * No concurrent participation in another clinical trial testing treatments for any disease including renal cell carcinoma * No other concurrent investigational or systemic therapy for metastatic RCC