In 1997, Zlotta et al. 26 first used RFA to treat small RCC. The RFA is widely used as an alternative treatment for small RCC due to its advantages of minimal trauma, good efficacy, fast recovery, fewer complications, strong repeatability, low requirements for patient primary conditions, and the ability to be performed under local anesthesia 4,7,27. However, multiple studies have reported that insufficient intraoperative ablation and the inability to evaluate the ablation effect in real-time by conventional US, CT, or MRI leads to tumor residue and local recurrence after RFA 28–30. This clinical demand has sparked the development of many new imaging technologies, including CEUS, CECT, and CEMRI, among others, which can assist surgeons in intraoperative margin assessment 16,20,31. When a residual mass is detected, repeated ablation in the same procedure is organized immediately, significantly increasing the complete ablation rate after the initial treatment 30–32. Notably, a study comparing CEUS with CECT for guiding the RFA of HCC has found that CEUS provided the overall complete ablation rate, reduced the relapse rate, and increased the survival rate 33.
Our findings suggest that among the enrolled population, the RFA group included a significant disadvantage in age, preoperative injured kidneys eGFR, Charlson, ECOG, and ASA scores compared to the LPN group (p < 0.05 for all), consistent with RFA applicability for RCC treatment 3–6. Anterior renal tumors were once considered a relative contraindication for percutaneous ablation, as they pose a risk of damage to adjacent organs, including the small intestine, pancreas, and colon 34. The difficulty of puncture for upper polar tumors is greater and more likely to damage organs such as the pleura, spleen, and liver 27,35. Additionally, RFA exhibits a higher likelihood of identifying and managing central RCC than LPN 28. Therefore, this study included more cT1a stage RCC in the posterior, middle, lower pole, and central regions in the RFA group.
The RFA can be performed under local anesthesia (LA), conscious sedation (CS), or general anesthesia (GA) 36,37. All cases in the RFA group underwent anesthesia assessment prior to surgery and received general anesthesia. The putative advantages are as follows: (1) general anesthesia facilitates intraoperative respiratory dynamic regulation of the patient, enforced Valsalva maneuver, and extended apnea, enhancing tumor precision and targeting, particularly in the upper pole region, while concurrently minimizing collateral harm 34; (2) enhanced patient safety and comfort are achieved through dedicated vigilance and hemodynamic and pain management by anesthesiologists 37; (3) studies across multiple series of percutaneous ablation for stage T1a RCC have consistently demonstrated the highest rate of surgical tumor control under general anesthesia 36,37. Insufficient pain control (e.g., LA) may lead the radiologist to hasten or discontinue the RFA procedures, potentially culminating in an incomplete ablation.
Here, CEUS/USM-RFA displayed significant advantages regarding operative time, blood loss, and postoperative hospital stay for T1a RCC compared with LPN (p < 0.05). These results were consistent with Acosta Ruiz V et al. 38, indicating that RFA significantly reduced the complication rates compared with LPN for T1a RCC. However, the incidence of postoperative minor complications was significantly increased in our study, which can be reasonably explained by the more recorded complication types herein. The RFA group revealed no major complications, mainly because of tumor exclusion in dangerous sites, such as proximal ureters (3). Second, the hydrodissection technique can further increase the distance between the tumor and the non-target organs 34,39,40. Third, the distance between the kidney and the bowel tends to increase when positioning the patient in a posterior oblique or lateral position 34,39. Fourth, CEUS improved targeting and visualization of the tumor for needle placement, avoiding damage to neighboring tissues 11,18. These measures almost always provide enough safety guarantees for RFA. Statistical analysis revealed that the major complications had a nonsignificant difference between the two groups (p = 0.573).
Reportedly, RFA is superior to PN in preserving renal function after treatment 41–43. Our study found little or no change in eGFR in patients undergoing CEUS/USM-RFA compared to a significant decrease in LPN patients. There are several possible reasons for this result. RFA is performed in non-ischemic conditions, while temporary occlusion of the renal artery during surgery in the LPN group could lead to renal functional decline 44. The wedge-shaped incision used to remove the tumor in LPN may result in a higher loss of nephrons compared to removing the tumor with a sphere-shaped ablation zone tailored to the tumor shape and size 43. In addition, the trauma caused by surgery in LPN was greater than that in RFA, which could exacerbate kidney damage 9.
Technical success and technique efficacy were achieved for all 164 tumors (100%) through single surgical interventions within both study groups, which aligns with the observations of Parker et al 28. Notably, the technical efficiency of US-induced RFA for T1a RCC treatment was only 75.4%, as reported by Jasinski et al 27. In the RFA group, the high technical success and technique efficacy may be attributable to four reasons. 1) The relatively strict inclusion criteria. All lesions were less than 4 cm, and most were exophytic, located in the middle and lower pole of the kidney. 2) RFA performed under general anesthesia. 3) The single overlapping RFA or multiple electrode RFA used in this study can generate a large enough ablation zone to encompass the entire tumor. 4) The CEUS/US allows for more precise guidance of the puncture and real-time assessment of the ablation effect, which in turn guides the intraoperative supplemental ablation as necessary to minimize tumor retention. The 2-year LTP in the RFA group was 2.44%, agreeing with the 2.35% LTP reported by Zangiacomo et al 45. for enhanced CT-guided RFA for stage T1a RCC. Meanwhile, in the LPN group, we did not observe the local progression of the tumor. The LTP revealed a nonsignificant difference between the RFA and LPN groups (p = 0.250), a concordance in line with the outcomes delineated by Thompson et al 46. Multiple studies have demonstrated that the oncological outcome with RFA is as good as that with PN 42,47,48. Nevertheless, this conclusion is controversial 28,46,49. Herein, the RFA group had a similar RFS to the LPN group, suggesting that CEUS/USM-RFA has comparable oncological outcome to LPN in treating rigorously screened cT1a RCC patients.
Our study had some limitations. First, this was a retrospective study. The likelihood of selection bias cannot be completely excluded. Second, the number of patients was relatively small for CEUS/USM-RFA, which limited our ability to perform propensity score matching. Third, this study did not assess long-term oncological outcomes but only mid-term outcomes. Therefore, randomized, controlled, long-term trials are necessary to compare oncological outcomes adequately following LPN and CEUS/USM-RFA.