“There is little experience with the use of cryoablation in children. Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of cryoablation for benign soft tissue lesions in children,” said Alex M Barnacle, Great Ormond Street Hospital For Children, London, UK, speaking at the British Society of Interventional Radiology meeting (BSIR; 1–3 November, Birmingham, UK).
Cryoablation is increasingly being used to treat benign soft tissue lesions in adults.
Barnacle and team retrospectively reviewed cases from a prospectively maintained interventional radiology procedural database. The team performed five procedures in four children, three of whom were male. The median age of the patients was 4.5 years (range 1.4–11.1), and weight 17.3Kg (range 6.9 to 40). The anatomical location and biopsy-proven diagnoses were: calf fibroadipose vascular anomaly; thigh venous malformation; shoulder microcystic lymphatic malformation and chest wall hamartoma. Treatment was offered to patients who were experiencing; due to the size of the lesion and to one patient who was failing to thrive.
“We performed all procedures under anaesthesia with ultrasound and/or cone beam CT guidance using the SeedNet Gold ablation system (Galil Medical, now BTG). Each time, the procedure used three probes and two freeze-thaw cycles. The technical success of the procedures was 100%,” said Barnacle.
The in-hospital stay of patients ranged from one to five days. One patient required intravenous analgesia, fluids and nutrition for three days. “We observed a reduction in pain in most cases and also that lesion volume was reduced (by 69–94%, as measured in two patients). The patient who was failing to thrive has gained weight and improved her developmental milestones. Cryoablation is technically feasible for benign soft tissue lesions in children. Our initial experience suggests it is well-tolerated and effective,” Barnacle concluded.
Desperately looking for a specialist with knowledge of FAVA that sees adults anywhere in the Uk.