Cryoablation puts a chill on ovarian cancer tumors

Cryoablation has been shown to be an effective form of treatment for ovarian cancer, and this “freeze and destroy” technique could offer an alternative to surgery or chemotherapy for patients whose disease is in the late stages and oligometastatic, according to research published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

Hyun Bang, MD, of the department of radiology at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and colleagues performed a study of 21 ovarian cancer patients who underwent ultrasound-guided, percutaneous cryoablation in order to assess complications, recurrences and overall survival. Forty-eight tumors on the soft tissue, liver and lungs were treated during the 7-year study period. Results showed that the median survival was 56.9 months, though the authors noted an average period of 37.8 months occurred between the diagnosis of metastatic disease to the cryoablation procedure. Women whose tumours are not successfully removed surgically (approximately 60% of cases) survive 7 to 30 months.

Bang and colleagues also calculated that cryoablation delivers results at a lower cost than alternative treatments. Medical costs in the study registered an average of USD 26 806 per life year saved compared with the current standard of care costing approximately USD 100 000 per life year saved. “Multisite cryoablation of metastatic epithelial ovarian cancer is a well-tolerated treatment alternative, especially for patients with anesthesia risks, painful lesions or those seeking local control during chemotherapy,” concluded the authors. “Preliminary calculations of high patient survival and cost-effectiveness suggest that cryoablation could effectively and economically augment the palliative care of metastatic disease.” Because cryoablation is performed using an extremely cold needle inserted into the skin, it causes less pain and offers a faster recovery than surgery, according to the authors.

The research team has also published papers describing findings as they relate to kidney and lung cancers, and will be publishing results concerning colon cancer. Ovarian cancer is diagnosed in 22 000 women each year in the US, and is the most damaging cancer to the female reproductive system, according to the National Institutes of Health.