The current role of cryoablation in the management of soft tissue and bone tumors: A narrative review.

Cryoablation (CA) is an image-guided, minimally invasive technique that is gaining traction in the treatment of both benign and malignant soft tissue and bone tumors. This narrative review presents the current evidence supporting its clinical applications in both curative and palliative settings. In malignant tumors-including soft tissue sarcomas and bone metastases-cryoablation provides effective local control, particularly in cases of recurrence, inoperability, or metastatic disease, and enables chemotherapy-free intervals, contributing to improved quality of life. In benign lesions, such as desmoid fibromatosis, cryoablation offers significant symptomatic relief and substantial tumor volume reduction with a low complication profile. CA demonstrates high local tumor control rates, especially in patients with recurrent, unresectable, or metastatic lesions and offers significant advantages over conventional treatments in terms of safety, anesthesia requirements, pain control, and hospitalization duration. Technological innovations, including robotic assistance and advanced navigation systems, have enhanced CA's precision and feasibility in anatomically challenging regions. Although current evidence supports its role as an alternative or adjunctive therapy in selected patients, prospective, randomized studies are still needed to define optimal patient selection, long-term outcomes, and standardized protocols. METHODS: This narrative review was conducted to evaluate the current role of cryoablation (CA) in the treatment of soft tissue and bone tumors. A targeted literature search was performed in PubMed and Scopus databases up to August 2025, using keywords including cryoablation, soft tissue tumors, bone tumors, and image-guided ablation. Relevant clinical studies, reviews, and retrospective series were included. Priority was given to publications reporting therapeutic outcomes and safety data. Data concerning CA efficacy, local tumor control, complication rates, and other relevant clinical metrics were extracted and synthesized qualitatively to reflect current evidence across both benign and malignant tumor entities.