Investigative urology

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of renal vascular control and intrarenal cooling on the size of renal lesions attainable with a 3.4-mm cryoprobe.Methods: Three groups of pigs underwent unilateral laparoscopic renal cryoablation with a 3.4-mm cryoprobe inserted to a depth of 1 cm. An 8-minute double-freeze cycle was used. One week later, an acute contralateral cryolesion was created before killing the animal. In group 1 (n = 6), bilateral cryolesions were created without hilar clamping or intrarenal cooling. In group 2 (n = 6), the cryolesions were created after hilar clamping alone. In group 3 (n = 6), the cryolesions were created after both hilar clamping and application of intrarenal cooling with saline ice-slush infused into the renal pelvis. After nephrectomy, the gross diameters were determined for each cryolesion. The mean diameters of the zones of complete and partial necrosis were determined by histopathologic examination.Results: In group 3, the cortex cooled from 36.9°C to a mean of 24.8°C. Acutely, no statistically significant difference was found between the lesions produced with clamping alone (37.6 mm) and intrarenal cooling (40.4 mm); however, both were significantly larger than the control cryolesions (28.7 mm). At 1 week, the area of complete necrosis produced with intrarenal cooling (34.3 mm) was significantly larger than the areas of necrosis produced by clamping alone (27.8 mm) or conventional cryoablation (23.9 mm; ALPHA = 0.05, Tukey's honestly significantly different [HSD] test).Conclusions: Enhanced cryolesion necrosis was achieved with intrarenal cooling with a 3.4-mm cryoprobe. Intrarenal cooling may be a valuable adjunct to cryoablation in selected cases. Editorial CommentThe authors evaluated the ability of intrarenal cooling (retrograde intracavitary ice-cold saline perfusion) and hilar clamping to increase the area of renal necrosis attainable with a single cryoprobe.The authors noted a significantly increased gross cryolesion diameter with occlusion of both renal artery and vein. Additionally, it was observed that the mean diameter of complete central necrosis was 4 mm larger with hilar occlusion alone than it was with conventional cryoablation. Intrarenal cooling with hilar clamping produced necrotic cryolesions that were an average of 10 mm larger than standard cryolesions and 6 mm larger than cryolesions with hilar occlusion alone.