Background: Chemotherapy (ct) is the preferred treatment option in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). The objective of the study was to determine the overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and ct-free survival (CFS) of pulmonary thermal ablation (TA) and its place in the treatment of mCRC.
Patients and methods: All consecutive patients treated (over 11 years) with percutaneous TA for lung metastasis of colorectal origin were reviewed. All sequences of treatments were considered. We determined the OS, DFS and CFS of pulmonary TA.
Results: Two hundred and nine patients underwent 323 TA procedures for 630 lung metastases. Majority of the metastases (71.5%) were unilateral with a median diameter of 10 mm (2-46). A single metastasis was treated in 95 patients (45.5%), and 2-8 in 114 patients (54.5%). One hundred and thirty-two patients (63.2%) had only a single procedure, 77 patients (36.8%) had 2-5 procedures. Following the first TA (n = 209), 125 patients (59.8%) resumed ct. Sixty-four out of the 126 patients presenting lung progression were treated again with TA. The median CFS was 12.2 months (95% CI: 10.3-17.7). Patients with no extra-pulmonary metastases showed a statistically better CFS than those who had extra-pulmonary metastases with a median of 20.9 and 9.2 months, respectively (p < 0.001). Median follow-up and OS were 50 and 67.6 months, respectively.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates, for the first time, that TA enables a CFS of 12.2 months that extended to 20.9 months in patients who presented with lung-only metastases. TA is a viable option for a pause in the therapy of mCRCs.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Lung metastases; Radiofrequency ablation; Thermal ablation.