July 1, 2005

McDougal

Radiofrequency ablation is effective long-term treatment for kidney tumors

MGH researchers have shown that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) — a minimally invasive way of destroying tissue — is an effective, longlasting treatment for small kidney tumors in selected patients. In a followup to a 2003 study, the investigators found that RFA treatment of renal cell carcinoma, the most common kidney cancer, continued to be successful four to six years after administration.

"This study shows, for the first time, that this is a very effective long-term treatment," says W. Scott McDougal, MD, chief of MGH Urology and lead author of the study. The report appears in the July issue of the Journal of Urology.

RFA delivers heat generated by electrical energy to tumor sites through a thin needle, similar to probes used in biopsy procedures. It also is used to treat cardiac arrhythmias, small liver tumors and a benign bone tumor called osteoid osteoma. For more than six years MGH physicians have been using RFA to treat kidney tumors in patients for whom surgical removal was not an option. The current study reviewed information on 16 of the first patients treated with the technique. In the years following their treatment, five patients whose treatment was initially successful died from causes unrelated to kidney cancer. Of the 11 remaining patients, none had any recurrence or metastasis of the kidney tumor four to six years after treatment.

McDougal adds that the MGH team now has used RFA to treat a total of 100 renal cell carcinomas in 85 patients with similar results — successful destruction of all tumors on the surface of the kidney and 78 percent of tumors within the kidney. "Right now, older patients with small lesions in limited areas of their kidneys are good candidates for this procedure. We need to wait for 10-year followup information to determine whether it will be appropriate for patients with a longer life expectancy," he says. The report's co-authors are Francis McGovern, MD, of MGH Urology, and Debra Gervais, MD, and Peter R. Mueller, MD, both of the MGH Department of Radiology.