Cryotherapy efficacy and safety as local therapy in surgical treatment of musculoskeletal tumours. A retrospective case series of 143 patients

Cryotherapy, also called Cryoablation (CA), is a technique that provides a local treatment to various pathological conditions. In Musculoskeletal tumours management, Cryoablation is well accepted and validated as a treatment in palliative cures for metastatic patients. Recently, CA has been proposed also as an alternative to radiofrequency ablation in osteoid osteoma and other benign tumour treatment with promising results. Cryotherapy with argon ice-balls as local adjuvant in open surgery is a tool that can provide enlargement of surgical margins if used properly. There is still not enough evidence supporting use of cryotherapy as local adjuvant in Musculoskeletal open surgery as the series cited above are very small and there is no comparative RCT between local adjuvant therapies including CA. One-hundred-and-eighty-three patients were treated with Cryoablation from 2000 and 2018 in the Musculoskeletal Tumours Surgery Unit of Careggi (Florence) and the University 2nd Clinic of Pisa. In our study group, 38 patients (26.6%) were affected by bone metastasis, 16 patients (11.1%) by aneurismal bone cysts or angiomas, 22 patients (15.4%) by low-grade malignant musculoskeletal tumours, 2 patients (1,4%) by fibromatosis, 63 patients (44.1%) by benign musculoskeletal tumours (principally Giant Cell Tumours-GCT) and 2 patients (1.4%) by Osteosarcomas. In 125 cases (87.4%), CA has been used as an adjuvant therapy, in 12 cases (8.4%) as a percutaneous ablation therapy and in 6 cases (4.2%) as adjuvant to remove tumoral lesions 'en bloc' or as a 'poor technique' for its sterilizing effect on previously resected bones. Mean follow-up was 10 years. Twenty-three patients (16%) were classified as Alive with Disease (AWD) due to local recurrence or tumour progression (14 metastases, 5 low-grade malignant bone tumours, 4 Giant Cell Tumours). Eight patients died due to the disease (6 metastases, 2 osteosarcomas), while 1 died from leukaemia. One-hundred-and-eleven patients (78%) were classified as Continues Disease Free (CDF). All patients reported decrease in pain-related symptoms after surgery and all surgeons reported better control of blood loss. Three cases (2%) of local skin necrosis or wound dehiscence were reported. No local recurrences were reported after fibromatosis ablation. Our results confirm that CA could be considered as a safe and effective technique to treat various conditions as adjuvant and palliative therapy. In particular, in open surgery, cryotherapy as an adjuvant treatment could lead to very low rates of recurrence in locally aggressive tumours like Giant Cell Tumours. These results could be generalized but a better understanding about indications and outcomes can be reached studying CA in specific populations with comparation to other adjuvant techniques