Ten-Year Experience with Percutaneous Cryoablation of Renal Tumors: Tumor Size Predicts Disease Progression

Percutaneous cryoablation (PCA) has emerged as an alternative to extirpative management of small renal masses (SRMs) in select patients, with a reduced risk of perioperative complications. Although disease recurrence is thought to occur in the early postoperative period, limited data on long-term oncologic outcomes have been published. We reviewed our 10-year experience with PCA for SRMs and assessed predictors of disease progression. We reviewed our prospectively maintained database of patients who underwent renal PCA from March 2005 to December 2015 (n = 308). Baseline patient and tumor variables were recorded, and postoperative cross-sectional imaging was examined for evidence of disease recurrence. Disease progression was defined as the presence of local recurrence or new lymphadenopathy/metastasis. Mean patient age was 67.2 ± 11 years, mean tumor size was 2.7 ± 1.3 cm, and mean nephrometry score was 6.8 ± 1.7. At mean follow-up of 38 months, local recurrence and new lymphadenopathy/metastasis occurred in 10.1% (31/308) and 6.2% (19/308) of patients, respectively. Excluding patients with a solitary kidney and/or von Hippel-Lindau, local recurrence and new lymphadenopathy/metastasis occurred in 8.6% (23/268) and 1.9% (5/268) of cases, respectively. Kaplan-Meier estimated disease-free survival was 92.5% at 1 year, 89.3% at 2 years, and 86.7% at 3 years post-PCA. Increasing tumor size was a significant predictor of disease progression (hazard ratio 1.32 per 1-cm increase in size, p = 0.001). PCA is a viable treatment option for patients with SRMs. Increasing tumor size is a significant predictor of disease progression following PCA.