Purpose: Percutaneous ablation has been proven as a safe and effective treatment for small renal tumors. The treatment is available in Israel for over 15 years, and included in the health basket in the last 2 years. We will present our results - single center experience, the largest ablation service in Israel.
Material and Methods: A retrospective study of 142 percutaneous renal tumor ablation was conducted. All patients (mean age 67 (±12); 40/102 female/male) were treated using ablation (microwave ablation 53.6%, radiofrequency ablation 40.1% and cryoablation 6.3%) during the years 2013-2019. The average tumor diameter was 24 mm (10-58 mm); 94 tumors were exophytic and 48 were endophytic. In 54 of the cases (38%) a biopsy was performed prior to the ablation. The pathological report revealed that 23 (42%) were clear cell RCC, 6 (11%) were papillary type RCC, 1 (2%) chromophobe type RCC, 8 (15%) oncocytic tumor, 9 (16%) were non diagnostic and 7 (13%) other.
Monitoring protocol after treatment included imaging after 1, 3, 6, 12 months subsequent to treatment and later annually; median follow-up time was 21 months (1 -70).
Results: Evidence of tumor recurrence was observed in 17 patients (12%); 8 were treated successfully by another ablation session. Cases in which recurrence was observed were characterized by a tumor larger than 30 mm (20-37); 6 of the lesions were central (endophytic).
Conclusions: Percutaneous ablation is a safe and effective treatment for small renal tumors. 89% long-term complete ablation was reached. In cases of remnant tumor tissue or recurrence, ablation can be repeated with good results.
