Thermal Ablation Offers Durable Survival in Oligometastatic Kidney Cancer, Suggests Study
USA: A study published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology has revealed that image-guided percutaneous thermal ablation is a safe and effective treatment for oligometastatic renal cell carcinoma. In 50 patients, the minimally invasive procedure achieved excellent long-term overall survival, supporting its role as a valuable option for managing selected patients with metastatic kidney cancer and potentially improving long-term outcomes.
The study was conducted by Daniel H. Kim, Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California, and colleagues. Researchers assessed the long-term outcomes of patients with oligometastatic renal cell carcinoma (omRCC) treated using percutaneous thermal ablation, including cryoablation, microwave ablation, and radiofrequency ablation.
Oligometastatic RCC refers to disease in which cancer has spread to a limited number of sites, potentially allowing local treatment of metastatic lesions. Thermal ablation uses image guidance to target and destroy tumors while limiting damage to surrounding tissues and offers a minimally invasive alternative for appropriately selected patients.
The retrospective cohort included 50 patients, with a mean age of 64.6 years. Of these, 39 (78%) were men and 11 (22%) were women. Between 2008 and 2019, patients underwent 91 ablation procedures targeting 100 metastatic RCC lesions. The researchers evaluated overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and local tumor progression-free survival (LTPFS), with follow-up extending to 10 years.
Technical outcomes were highly favorable, with 99% primary technical success and 100% secondary technical success.
At 10 years, the overall survival rate was 68.5%, while cancer-specific survival reached 75.5%. Survival outcomes did not differ significantly between patients with clear-cell and non-clear-cell RCC, suggesting that the benefits of ablation may extend across different tumor histologies.
Local disease control also remained strong over time. The 10-year LTPFS rate was 87.6%, with no significant differences according to tumor histology, lesion size, metastatic location or type of thermal energy used.
Key findings:
- 10-year overall survival: 68.5%.
- 10-year cancer-specific survival: 75.5%.
- 10-year local tumor progression-free survival: 87.6%.
- No significant survival differences were observed between clear-cell and non-clear-cell RCC.
- Local control was not significantly influenced by tumor size, metastatic location or ablation technique.
- The overall adverse-event rate was 9.9%, with two mild and seven moderate events.
- Most adverse events were self-limited.
- 64% of patients had never received systemic therapy, suggesting that local ablation may help postpone systemic treatment in selected patients.
The researchers concluded that percutaneous image-guided thermal ablation provided durable local control and favorable long-term survival with relatively few complications. The findings support thermal ablation as a potential long-term local treatment strategy for carefully selected patients with oligometastatic RCC, particularly when delaying systemic therapy is desirable.
Reference:
Kim, D. H., Keshavarz, P., Tibbe, T. D., Suh, R. D., Abtin, F., Genshaft, S. J., Drakaki, A., Shuch, B. M., Pantuck, A. J., Lu, D. S., & Raman, S. S. (2026). Long-Term Survival After Percutaneous Image-Guided Thermal Ablation of Oligometastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma. Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, 109040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2026.109040
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