Freezing Kidney Tumors: Treatment of Choice

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A simple outpatient procedure should be the first treatment option for some kidney cancer patients, researchers say.

The procedure, called interventional cryoablation, is a safe, minimally invasive radiology treatment that rapidly freezes the tumor using argon gas. Doctors say it kills 100 percent of the cancer without surgery and should be the gold standard for those with tumors 4 centimeters in size or smaller. Most patients go home the same day as the procedure and have minimal limitation on regular activities.

"This news is especially significant for individuals with small tumors, since more than 75 percent of patients who are diagnosed with kidney cancer have tumors that are 4 centimeters or less in size," said Christos Georgiades, M.D., Ph.D., an interventional radiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. "Whatever the definition of 'cure' is, these results come as close to it as possible," he added.

SOURCE: Society of Interventional Radiology online, March 2009

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