Percutaneous cryoablation for stage IV lung cancer: a retrospective analysis

The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of cryoablation treatment and palliative treatment in stage IV lung cancer. Fifty-four patients were enrolled into the study. Thirty-one patients received cryoablation treatment (including intra- and extrapulmonary tumors), and 23 patients had palliative treatment (no cryoablation). Both the safety of the procedure and overall survival (OS) for stage IV lung cancer were assessed during a 6.5 year follow-up period. The OS of patients in both groups and the effects of treatment timing and frequency were compared. The OS in the cryoablation group was significantly longer than in the palliative group (median OS: 14 months vs. 7 months, P = 0.0009). The OS of those who received delayed cryoablation treatment was longer than that observed for those who received timely treatment (median OS: 18.5 months vs. 10 months, P = 0.0485), but this was not observed in those who received palliative treatment (median OS: 7 months vs. 7.5 months, P = 0.9814). Multiple treatments played an important role in improving the OS of patients who received cryoablation treatment (median OS: 18 months vs. 14 months, P = 0.0376). There was a significant difference between cryoablation and palliative treatment, in terms of OS. In addition, multiple cryoablation treatments may have an advantage over single treatments.