Expanding thermal ablation to the ‘intermediate-sized’ renal mass: clinical utility in T1b tumors

In the August 2016 issue of European Urology, Caputo et al. present the most recent series comparing outcomes of cryoablation (CA) versus partial nephrectomy (PN) for clinical T1b (cT1b) renal tumors (1). The publication retrospectively identified 31 patients at a single high-volume center who underwent percutaneous or laparoscopic CA for renal tumors >4 and ≤7 cm between 1999 and 2014. For all patients, the treating physician determined that while treatment was indicated, the risk of surgery outweighed the benefit. CA with pretreatment biopsy was performed via both laparoscopic and percutaneous approaches though the authors do not define the number of patients in each group.