Objective: Comparison of partial nephrectomy and radiofrequency ablation in small renal tumors
Methods: We searched through the major medical databases such as PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, Science Citation Index, Web of Science and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI) and Database of Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology (Wanfang) for all published studies without any limit on language until May 2015. The following search terms were used: partial nephrectomy, radiofrequency ablation, renal cell carcinoma, small renal tumor or mass. Furthermore, additional related studies were manually searched in the reference lists of all published reviews and retrieved articles.
Results: In this meta-analysis, there are not statistically differences between groups in 5y-DFS, recurrence rate and complications between RFA and PN. However, RFA has a lower rate of percentage change of decease rate in GFR than PN in terms of short-mediate follow-up time. Ultimately, the role of RFA and PN for small renal tumor remains to be defined and, ideally, this novel approach should be compared with PN in a well-designed, large, prospective, randomized and matched study before gaining wider acceptance.
Conclusions: In this meta-analysis, there are not statistically differences between groups in 5y-DFS, recurrence rate and complications between RFA and PN. However, RFA has a lower rate of percentage change of decease rate in GFR than PN in terms of short-mediate follow-up time. Ultimately, the role of RFA and PN for small renal tumor remains to be defined and, ideally, this novel approach should be compared with PN in a well-designed, large, prospective, randomized and matched study before gaining wider acceptance.
