[Clinical Investigation on CT guided cryoablation for treating invasive chest wall or pleural tumors].

Objective

To evaluate the feasibility and short-term effect of CT guided cryoablation for malignant chest wall or pleural involvement.

Methods

To follow up 22 patients with chest wall or pleural involvement of various malignancies who underwent cryoablation from January 2012 to January 2015 by conducting postoperative 1-, 3- and 6-month enhanced CT, MRI or PET-CT examinations, respectively, evaluate local curative effect, and observe their progression-free survival (PFS), postoperative pain remission and complications after the cryoablation.

Results

A total of 22 patients with 27 lesions received 26 times of argon-helium cryoablation. According to the coverage situation of immediate postoperative ice balls on the lesions, they were divided into a complete coverage group (Group A with 18 patients) and a partial coverage group (Group B with 4 patients). 1 month later, 15 patients' tumors were completely ablated, and 3 had residue and thus received the second cryoablation in Group A, while all patients' tumors had residue in Group B. 3 months later, 17 patients' tumors were completely ablated, and 1 had residue and thus received another cryoablation in Group A, while all patients' residual tumors enlarged in different extent in group B. 6 months later, all lesions were ablated in group A while all patients' residual tumors enlarged in group B. For the 22 patients, their preoperative, and postoperative 1-week, 1-month, 3-month, and 6-month VAS scores were 4.95±0.57, 1.45±0.35, 1.45±0.35, 1.64±1.71, and 2.00±2.35, respectively. The differences in the preoperative, postoperative 1-week, and postoperative 1-month scores are significant statistically (P<0.05), and the difference in the postoperative 1-month and 6-month scores is also with statistical significance (P=0.03). For all patients, their post-operative 1-week, 1-month, 3-monte and 6-month pain remission rates are 90.9%(20/22), 90.9%(20/22), 86.4% (19/22)and 81.8%(18/22), respectively. With a median follow-up of 13.5 months, the median PFS is 7 months. The adverse effect after argon-helium cryoablation involved transitory worsened pain (16 cases), pleural effusion (5 cases, including 3 underwent closed drainage), fever (5 cases), and hemoptysis (3 cases).

Conclusion

CT guided argon-helium cryoablation is a safe and effective method to treat malignant chest wall or pleural involvement.