Radiofrequency Ablation for Cancer

Radiofrequency Ablation
for Kidney Cancer

CT scan of kidney cancer before RF treatment

Enlarge

During RF treatment

Enlarge

Surgery is the treatment of choice for most kidney tumors; however, in the following situations, RF ablation might be considered:

• Patients who have one kidney
• Patients who have other medical conditions which might prevent surgery
• Elderly patients who might have difficulty with surgery or postsurgical recovery
• Patients who have tumors of less than 4 cm in size

Results for Kidney Tumors

Experience with kidney tumors is considerably less than that with liver tumors. However, early results at Mayo indicate that RF ablation is very effective for small tumors. In Mayo's experience with 70+ patients, the tumor was destroyed in more than 95 percent of patients treated.