Ablation for Small Localized Renal Cell Carcinomas

When small localized renal cell carcinomas are discovered during abdominal imaging, percutaneous ablation — cryoablation, radiofrequency ablation, or microwave ablation — is considered with increasing frequency as an alternative to surgical resection (Figure 1). No randomized trials have compared ablation and surgical resection, but observational studies have generally shown that outcomes with ablation are favorable for selected patients.

In this latest study, Danish researchers used nationwide registries to identify nearly 1900 patients with stage T1a renal cell carcinomas (localized tumors ≤4 cm in greatest dimension) that were diagnosed between 2013 and 2022. Patients underwent ablation (29%; mostly cryoablation), partial nephrecto…