Cryoablation of small renal masses: assessment of the outcome at one institution.

Objective: To report our 5-year experience with laparoscopic and percutaneous cryoablation (LCA and PCA) for managing small renal masses.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively analysed patients undergoing LCA and PCA between October 2000 and March 2006 at our institution. After approval from the Institutional Review Board, charts were reviewed retrospectively for variables during and after CA, and for clinical outcomes, the latter including the efficacy of the procedure in achieving overall, cancer-specific and recurrence-free survival.

Results: In all, 78 patients had CA of 88 small renal masses, by LCA in 58 and PCA in 20. The median American Society of Anesthesiology score was 3 and the mean body mass index was 30 kg/m(2). All procedures were done under general anaesthesia, with a mean anaesthesia time of 220 min. The mean tumour size was 2.6 cm and the mean hospital stay was 2.1 days. At a mean follow-up of 19 months, the overall, cancer-specific and recurrence-free survival rates were 88.5%, 100% and 98.7%, respectively. Four patients required a repeat treatment due to persistent disease and one had progression to locally advanced disease. Five patients had complications during CA and seven had complications afterward.

Conclusion: This study suggests that CA is a safe, minimally invasive treatment option for patients with small renal masses, at the intermediate-term follow-up.