The treatment of paravertebral malignant mesenchymal tumor pain with cryoablation

Objective

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of cryoablation to treat pain from paravertebral malignant mesenchymal tumors.

Method

Cryoablation was performed on 15 patients who suffer from unresectable painful paravertebral malignant mesenchymal tumors and whose pain was poorly controlled by conventional treatment methods. The sizes of the tumors varied from 3 to 20 cm. The patients’ pain at baseline before the cryoablation and the pain they felt 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after the cryoablation were assessed respectively by the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI).

Result

BPI scores are divided into two categories: the influence of pain and the severity of pain. Both results showed a decline after the cryoablation. The evaluation score of pain severity decreased significantly (P = 0.001, P = 0.031) on the observation of 1 day and 1 month after the cryoablation; that of pain influence decreased significantly (P = 0.016, P = 0.036) in the cases of 1 day and 1 week after cryoablation. Two patients (13.33%) had mild complications, but no serious complications occurred.

Conclusion

Cryoablation is a low risk, well-tolerated topical treatment for the pain of patients with unresectable paravertebral malignant mesenchymal tumor.