Thermal ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for clinical T1b renal tumors

Abstract

Objective

To report our preliminary results of thermal ablation, including microwave and radiofrequency ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for cT1b renal tumors.

Material and methods

A total of 56 patients with cT1b renal tumors who underwent microwave ablation or radiofrequency ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy between January 2014 and May 2018 were enrolled. Thirty of them underwent microwave ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (MWA-LPN group), and the other 26 received radiofrequency ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (RFA-LPN group). Baseline, perioperative and follow-up data were compared between the two groups.

Results

There were no statistical differences with respect to patients’ gender, age, tumor size, RENAL score, BMI and estimated glomerular filtration rate between the MWA-LPN and RFA-LPN group, nor were any differences observed in warm ischemia time, post-operative complications and hospital stay. Patients in the MWA-LPN group had shorter median operative time (p = .012), less estimated blood loss (p = .023). Median follow-up was 36 months (range 12–64). Three-year cancer-specific and progression-free survival was 100% and 96.4%. The overall kidney recurrence rate was 3.6% in the present study.

Conclusions

Thermal ablation assisted laparoscopic partial nephrectomy is a safe, effective nephron-sparing treatment which provides acceptable results for selective cT1b renal tumors.

Keywords:

• Laparoscopy
• kidney neoplasm
• microwaves
• partial nephrectomy
• radiofrequency ablation

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by Award Number 16CR3062B from the three-year-action-project of the Shanghai Hospital Development Centre, Award Number YG2017QN46 from the Medical-Engineering cross fund of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Award Number CBXJ201804 from the doctorial innovation fund of School of Medicine affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.