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. 2020 Jan 3;4(1):1.
doi: 10.1186/s41747-019-0127-0.

Image-guided laser ablation in the treatment of recurrence of renal tumours: technique and preliminary results

Federica Ferrari  1 , Giovanni Mauri  2   3 , Luca Nicosia  4 , Gianluca Maria Varano  2 , Guido Bonomo  2 , Franco Orsi  2
Affiliations

Image-guided laser ablation in the treatment of recurrence of renal tumours: technique and preliminary results

Federica Ferrari et al. Eur Radiol Exp. .

Abstract

Abdominal recurrences of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after surgery might represent a challenge for treatment, often requiring difficult surgeries or anticipated systemic therapy. Our aim is to illustrate a novel application of laser ablation for the treatment of abdominal recurrences of RCC. Patients with abdominal recurrences of renal cancer were treated under ultrasound/computed tomography guidance with a diode laser inserted into the lesion through a thin 21-G needle. A fixed 3-W power protocol was used, changing the illumination time according to lesion dimension and shape. Also, technical success, technical efficacy, local tumour progression, and major and minor complications were retrospectively analysed. Three patients were treated with image-guided laser ablation for abdominal recurrences of RCC. In all cases, it was possible to perform ablation as preoperatively planned and all three nodules (size of 6, 8, and 12 mm) were completely ablated with no evidence of residual enhancement after 6 weeks at contrast-enhanced CT. No minor or major complications were observed. No local tumour progression was reported up to 12 months from ablation. Image-guided laser ablation holds the potential to offer a minimally invasive treatment to patients with abdominal recurrence of RCC. Further studies are needed to evaluate the clinical role of this technique.

Keywords: Abdomen; Carcinoma (renal cell); Kidney neoplasms; Laser therapy; Neoplasm recurrence (local).

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Conflict of interest statement

GM is a consultant for Elesta SrL, Florence, Italy. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Forty-two-year-old male patient with small left recurrence of renal cell carcinoma. a Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan before treatment. A pathological nodule of 8 mm is clearly visualised in the left kidney fossa (white arrow). b Unenhanced CT scan with the patient placed in a prone position. Laser ablation procedure: the needle of the laser device is clearly seen placed insight the pathological nodule during the treatment (white arrow). c Contrast-enhanced CT scan after treatment. The small pathological nodule does not show any contrast uptake demonstrating the effectiveness of the treatment (white arrow)
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