Percutaneous Ablation of T1b Renal Cell Carcinoma: An Overview

There is increasing incidence of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) with multiple treatment options currently available. The purpose of this review is to outline patient selection and technical approaches and present the current literature for percutaneous ablation of T1b (4.1–7 cm) RCC.

An increasing number of retrospective studies and meta-analyses have evaluated the use of percutaneous ablation for T1b RCC. Overall, these studies tend to show that percutaneous ablation in this patient population is feasible. However, rates of major adverse events and local recurrence after percutaneous ablation for T1b RCC are both higher than when ablation is used for smaller tumors. As such, a multi-disciplinary, patient-centered approach is required.

Due to the increasing literature in this area, the most recent National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines include percutaneous ablation as an option for non-surgical patients with T1b RCC.