Long-term outcomes of radiofrequency ablation vs. partial nephrectomy for cT1 renal cancer: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Linjin Li; Jianlong Zhu; Huan Shao; Laijian Huang; Xiaoting Wang; Wenshuo Bao; Tao Sheng; Dake Chen; Yanmei He; Baolin Song

doi:10.3389/fsurg.2022.1012897

Long-term outcomes of radiofrequency ablation vs. partial nephrectomy for cT1 renal cancer: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Front Surg. 2023 Jan 6:9:1012897. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2022.1012897. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, the Third Clinical Institute Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou People's Hospital, Wenzhou, China.
² Department of Urology, Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiaxing, China.

Abstract

Background: Partial nephrectomy (PN) is one of the most preferred nephron-sparing treatments for clinical T1 (cT1) renal cancer, while radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is usually used for patients who are poor surgical candidates. The long-term oncologic outcome of RFA vs. PN for cT1 renal cancer remains undetermined. This meta-analysis aims to compare the treatment efficacy and safety of RFA and PN for patients with cT1 renal cancer with long-term follow-up of at least 5 years.

Method: This meta-analysis was performed following the PRISMA reporting guidelines. Literature studies that had data on the comparison of the efficacy or safety of RFA vs. PN in treating cT1 renal cancer were searched in databases including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from 1 January2000 to 1 May 2022. Only long-term studies with a median or mean follow-up of at least 5 years were included. The following measures of effect were pooled: odds ratio (OR) for recurrence and major complications; hazard ratio (HR) for progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS). Additional analyses, including sensitivity analysis, subgroup analysis, and publication bias analysis, were also performed.

Results: A total of seven studies with 1,635 patients were finally included. The treatment efficacy of RFA was not different with PN in terms of cancer recurrence (OR = 1.22, 95% CI, 0.45-3.28), PFS (HR = 1.26, 95% CI, 0.75-2.11), and CSS (HR = 1.27, 95% CI, 0.41-3.95) as well as major complications (OR = 1.31, 95% CI, 0.55-3.14) (P > 0.05 for all). RFA was a potential significant risk factor for OS (HR = 1.76, 95% CI, 1.32-2.34, P < 0.001). No significant heterogeneity and publication bias were observed.

Conclusion: This is the first meta-analysis that focuses on the long-term oncological outcomes of cT1 renal cancer, and the results suggest that RFA has comparable therapeutic efficacy with PN. RFA is a nephron-sparing technique with favorable oncologic efficacy and safety and a good treatment alternative for cT1 renal cancer.

Keywords: partial nephrectomy; radiofrequency ablation; recurrence; renal cancer; survival.