The feasibility and safety of cryoablation as an adjuvant therapy with transurethral resection of bladder tumor: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: The potential for transurethral resection (TUR) to result in residual tumors in patients with muscle invasive or high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) may affect local recurrence or progression. This study attempted to evaluate the feasibility and safety of cryoablation as an adjuvant therapy with TUR to treat bladder tumor.

METHODS: Patients who met inclusion criteria between December 2014 and August 2015 in our institute was included. The inclusion criteria were as followed: 1) urothelial carcinoma; 2) non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer or 3) stage T2 muscle invasive bladder cancer meeting with the following two conditions, solitary and less than 3 cm in size. Ten patients underwent TUR followed by immediate transurethral cryoablation of the tumor resection bed. All patients underwent pathological re-evaluation during follow-up cystoscopy.

RESULTS: The cryoablation was successfully performed without bladder perforation during the procedures. No grade II-V complications were observed. Among these patients, two had T2a stage tumors, three had T1 stage tumors and five had Ta stage tumors. The median follow-up of cases was 9 months (range 9-14 months). During follow-up, tumor recurrence was observed in three patients. Only one recurrence occurred in the primary tumor site.

CONCLUSIONS: Cryoablation as an adjuvant therapy with TUR for bladder tumors was feasible and safe. The potential benefit was to eliminate the residual tumor to the greatest extent.