Safety and oncologic efficacy of percutaneous cryoablation of papillary renal cell carcinoma: a 5-year single-center follow-up study

Abstract Aim To evaluate the safety and oncologic efficacy of percutaneous cryoablation (PCA) of papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC), based on a 5-year single-center follow-up. Materials and methods Single-center retrospective review of 48 consecutive patients with 53 pRCC treated with PCA between May 2008 and February 2020, was performed. There were 39 men and 9 women (mean age 67.5 ± 13.1 years; range: 36–88). Patient, tumor, PCA, and follow-up data were collected and analyzed. Technical efficacy (TE), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) were calculated. Results Median pRCC size was 22.0 mm (interquartile ranges [IQR]: 18.0–30.0 mm; mean, 24.6 ± 9.8; range: 7.0–60.0). There were 46 (46/53; 88.8%) type 1 and 7 (7/53; 11.2%) type 2 pRCC. The overall complication rate was 11% (6/53; 95% CI: 4.3–23.0%) with all complications being minor (grade ≤ 2). No patient required hemodialysis post treatment. Local tumor recurrence was observed in 3 cases (3/53; 5.7%), 2 in type 1 pRCC (1/46; 4.3%) and 1 (1/7; 14.3%) in type 2 pRCC ( P = 0.35). A second PCA was performed for 2 recurring pRCC, thus accounting for primary and secondary 5-year LRFS estimates of 95.9% (95% CI: 90.4–100%) and 97.8% (95% CI: 93.7 -100%) respectively. CSS and MFS were 100% (95% CI: 100 – 100%). 5-year estimate of OS was 90.3% (95% CI: 80.5–100%). Conclusions PCA of pRCC is safe and results in high survival estimates at 5-year follow-up.