Interventional oncology for older patients with liver and kidney malignancies.

Abstract

e14607 Background: Less invasive procedures, such as those provided by interventional oncology are often offered to older patients(pts) believing that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for non-fit vulnerable older pts, but reports in the English literature are very few. The purpose of this study was then to provide information on results and complications of interventional oncology procedures in pts with liver and kidney cancer older than 70 years ,analysing the incidence of complications, loco regional responses and duration of hospital staying and to compare these findings with those of pts younger than 70. Methods: Prospectively collected data on all pts that underwent liver bland arterial embolisation (BAE) with or without radiofrequency ablation and kidney radiofrequency ablation (RFA) at the Interventional Radiology Unit of the European Institute of Oncology, were analyzed comparing incidence of complications, loco regional responses and duration of hospital staying for pts older and younger than 70 years. Results: From April 2007 to March 2011 163 pts (109 males and 54 females) , 66 (40.5 %) older and 97 ( 59.9 %) younger than 70 years were treated with interventional oncology procedures. Of these 56 had an hepatocarcinoma,76 liver metastases and 31 a kidney cancer. The ASA score was homogeneously distributed in older and younger patients. The overall complication rate in patients older than 70 was 4.5 % (3/66) and in younger 3,1 % (3/97), without a significant difference (p=0.69). In pts older than 70 years mean hospitalization was 2.3 nights (36 were inpts for 2 nights, 8 for 3 and 3 for 4) while in the 81 younger pts the mean hospitalization was 2.2 nights (67 were inpts for 2 nights, 12 for 3 and 2 for 4). Objective response rates were 52.8% in older versus 46.3% in younger pts (p=0.55). Conclusions: Our study has confirmed thatliver BAE even followed by RFA and renal RFA in older liver and renal cancer pts are as safe and effective as in younger ones. Age alone should then not be considered as a risk factor in selected older pts.