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Image-guided cryoablation for painful metastatic bone disease

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During a recent multicentre trial led by Mayo Clinic, 62 adults with painful bone metastases were treated with CT guided and monitored cryoablation, a treatment technique pioneered at Mayo Clinic. These patients were treated at eight medical facilities across the United States using one or more cryoprobes under general anaesthesia. Results from the trial were presented 30 November at the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) annual conference in Chicago.

Led by Matthew Callstrom, MD, PhD, a radiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the study concluded that percutaneous cryoablation provides effective palliation for patients with painful metastatic disease. Cryoablation uses cold to destroy tumours and can be carefully monitored with CT imaging.

“Image-guided cryoablation provides a new option for many patients with metastatic bone disease. The ice that is generated in the body using cryoablation is clearly visible with CT imaging so the tumour can be treated aggressively, and in many cases completely, while avoiding critical normal structures,” says Dr Callstrom. “Cryoablation also is nearly painless, while other treatments, such as radiofrequency ablation, can require greater pain control.”

“Approximately 75 per cent of patients reported 90 per cent pain relief at some point in the follow-up period,” says Dr Callstrom.

Previously, treatment options for patients with painful focal metastatic disease have been limited. External beam radiation therapy is the gold standard for treatment, but 30 per cent of those treated fail to achieve a response. Of those who have a partial or complete response, 50 per cent return to their initial pain score within two to three months.

Prior to cryoablation treatment as part of the study, the mean score for worst pain in a 24-hour period – reported on the standard pain scale of zero to 10 – was 7.1/10 with individual pain ratings ranging from four to 10. Four, eight and 24 weeks after treatment, the mean worst pain decreased to 4/10, 3.6/10 and 1.4/10, respectively.

(Source: Mayo Clinic: RSNA Annual Conference, Chicago)



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Dates

Posted On: 7 December, 2010
Modified On: 16 September, 2014

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