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Updated: May 17, 2026
Thermal Ablation for the Treatment of Abdominal Tumors
Published on: March 7, 2011
Percutaneous image-guided cryoablation of painful metastases involving bone: multicenter trial
Matthew R Callstrom1, Damian E Dupuy, Stephen B Solomon
1Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. callstrom.matthew@mayo.edu
Background:
This study sought to describe the results of a single-arm multicenter clinical trial using image-guided percutaneous cryoablation for the palliation of painful metastatic tumors involving bone.
Methods:
Over a 44-month period, 61 adult patients with 1 or 2 painful bone metastases with a score of 4 or more on a scale of 0 to 10 (≥4/10) worst pain in a 24-hour period who had failed or refused conventional treatment were treated with percutaneous image-guided cryoablation. Patient pain and quality of life was measured using the Brief Pain Inventory prior to treatment, 1 and 4 days after the procedure, weekly for 4 weeks, and every 2 weeks thereafter for a total of 6 months. Patient analgesic use was also recorded at these same follow-up intervals. Complications were monitored. Analysis of the primary endpoint was undertaken via paired comparison procedures.
Results:
A total of 69 treated tumors ranged in size from 1 to 11 cm. Prior to cryoablation, the mean score for worst pain in a 24-hour period was 7.1/10 with a range of 4/10 to 10/10. At 1, 4, 8, and 24 weeks after treatment, the mean score for worst pain in a 24-hour period decreased to 5.1/10 (P < .0001), 4.0/10 (P < .0001), 3.6/10 (P < .0001), and 1.4/10 (P < .0001), respectively. One of 61 (2%) patients had a major complication with osteomyelitis at the site of ablation.
Conclusions:
Percutaneous cryoablation is a safe, effective, and durable method for palliation of pain due to metastatic disease involving bone.
