Percutaneous computed tomography-guided cryoablation in the lung: a single institution series

Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to report a single center’s experience and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Computed Tomography (CT)-guided cryoablation (CA) for the treatment of primary and metastatic lung lesions. Material and Methods: Institutional database research from 01/04/2019 till 01/04/2020 identified 8 patients with primary or secondary lung lesions (n=15) who were treated by CT-guided CA and were evaluable for the 6 months follow-up. Technical and clinical success on a per tumour and per patient basis as well as complication rates were recorded. Neoplasmatic substrate included non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) (n=2) and metastases from sarcoma (n=3), pancreatic (n=1) and colon (n=2) carcinoma. Mean patient age was 64.3 years (range 23-80 years) and male/female ratio was 5/3. Results: Median size of the lesions was 1 cm (range 0.4-2.5 cm). Median number of tumours was 1.87 (range 1-4). The mean procedure time was 66.92 min (range 50-84 min), including local anaesthesia, cryoprobe(s) placement, ablation and postprocedural CT evaluation. Median length of hospital stay was 2.5 days (range 1-8 days). Local recurrence-free response (local tumour efficacy) of the treated lesions at 6 months was 93.33% (14/15) and 100% following a second cryoablation treatment for recurrent tumour. The rate of pneumothorax requiring pleural catheter placement was 25% (2/8). Additionally there were 3 grade 2 complication events during 13 procedures. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that percutaneous CT-guided CA constitutes a safe and effective ablation technique for primary and metastatic lung lesions.