cryosurgery

My husband saw his kidney surgeon this week.  He has only one kidney from birth and the RCC is in the remaining kidney.  He has a lot of bone metastasis for which he has been radiated.  The surgeon doesn't want to remove the tumor through using the minimally invasive surgery because he is afraid of hurting his fragile bones.  He has suggested cryosurgery where the doc inserts a needle into the tumor that freezes the tumor and prevents its growth.  Has anyone had this? Does it work? He has been on Toricel since October.  Thanks for your help.

Hi, although I'm sure you'll get answers here, you may find you get even more if you ask again on kidney-onc, which you can join on http://cancerguide.org/kofaq/

It has a huge amount of collective experience, and is run by two extremely knowledgeable people who are very clued up about all the treatment options, pros and cons, etc.

All the very best, and sorry to hear that it's such a tricky situation for you.

Julie.

Cryosurgery is one of several types of ablative treatments (thermal or RFA is more well-known)  It is effective in locally treating tumors.  It is considered to be about as effective as thermal ablation although the risk of bleeding seems to be higher.  Cryo- can be repeated (like the other ablation treatments) and has side effects that are relatively tolerable.  It is a minimally invasive surgery that carries the risks of any surgery.  

 

Erik