Differences in Patterns of Care: Reablation and Nephrectomy Rates After Needle Ablative Therapy for Renal Masses Stratified by Medical Specialty

Abstract Objective: We aimed to study differences in reablation rates, modality utilization, and outcomes after renal tumor cryoablation (CA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), stratified by medical specialty. Methods: A literature review was performed to identify papers reporting renal RFA and CA results. Patient demographics and clinical and pathological variables were collected, as were ablation success and salvage treatment rates. Results: Interventional radiologists (IR) reported more experience with renal RFA than with CA (31.4% v 11.3% of all reported cases, p < 0.001). However, the majority of renal RFA and CA are performed by urologists. The percutaneous approach was used far more often with RFA than with CA, reflecting this preference by radiologists (80.9% v 23.4%, p < 0.01). The mean tumor size, cancer-specific survival rates, mean follow-up duration, and salvage nephrectomy rates were not statistically different between CA and RFA. Tumor reablation rates were significantly higher for RFA than...