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Objective: A systematic review of clinical trials on thermal ablation of T1b RCC was conducted to assess oncologic outcomes of those procedures. The primary endpoint was the rate of local recurrence. Secondary endpoints included technical efficacy, progression to metastatic disease, cancer-specific mortality, complications and renal function decrease. Methods: PubMed (MEDLINE) and Embase databases were searched in June 2020 for eligible trials following the PRISMA selection process. Prevalence of local recurrence and per procedural major adverse effects were calculated using double arcsine transformation and a random-effects model. Results: Nine clinical trials (all retrospective) involving 288 patients with T1b renal clear cell carcinoma treated with either percutaneous microwave ablation, cryoablation or radiofrequency ablation were analyzed. Using a random-effects model, the overall prevalence of local recurrence following percutaneous ablation was 0.08 (0.04-0.14; p ¼ 0.05). Primary technical efficacy was 226/263 (86%) patients and secondary technical efficacy was 247/263 (94%). Overall, 10/176 (6%) patients presented metastatic locations following the ablation. Major adverse effects prevalence was 0.09 (0.06-0.14; p ¼ 0.05). Conclusions: Thermal ablations are feasible, safe, and effective to treat T1b renal clear cell carcinoma. More trials are necessary to determine the rate of the evidence of the benefit. HIGHLIGHTSThermal ablations are feasible and safe to treat T1b renal clear cell carcinoma. Oncologic outcomes appear to be very good on both local control and distant progression. Due to small number and heterogeneity of studies more trials are necessary to determine the rate of the evidence of the benefit.

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The main objective of this pilot study was to determine the association between augmented renal clearance (ARC), urinary nitrogen loss and muscle wasting in critically ill trauma patients. We conducted a retrospective analysis of a local database in 162 critically ill trauma patients without chronic renal dysfunction. Nutritional-related parameters and 24 h urinary biochemical analyses were prospectively collected and averaged over the first ten days after admission. Augmented renal clearance was defined by a mean creatinine clearance (CLCR) > 130 mL/min/1.73 m2. The main outcome was the cumulated nitrogen balance at day 10. The secondary outcome was the variation of muscle psoas cross-sectional area (ΔCSA) calculated in the subgroup of patients who underwent at least two abdominal CT scans during the ICU length of stay. Overall, there was a significant correlation between mean CLCR and mean urinary nitrogen loss (normalized coefficient: 0.47 ± 0.07, p < 0.0001). ARC was associated with a significantly higher urinary nitrogen loss (17 ± 5 vs. 14 ± 4 g/day, p < 0.0001) and a lower nitrogen balance (−6 ± 5 vs. −4 ± 5 g/day, p = 0.0002), without difference regarding the mean protein intake (0.7 ± 0.2 vs. 0.7 ± 0.3 g/kg/day, p = 0.260). In the subgroup of patients who underwent a second abdominal CT scan (N = 47), both ΔCSA and %ΔCSA were higher in ARC patients (−33 [−41; −25] vs. −15 [−29; −5] mm2/day, p = 0.010 and −3 [−3; −2] vs. −1 [−3; −1] %/day, p = 0.008). Critically ill trauma patients with ARC are thus characterized by a lower nitrogen balance and increased muscle loss over the 10 first days after ICU admission. The interest of an increased protein intake (>1.5 g/kg/day) in such patients remains a matter of controversy and must be confirmed by further randomized trials.

We investigated the long-term safety and efficacy of hepatic transarterial embolization (TAE) in patients with symptomatic polycystic liver disease (PLD). Materials and Methods: A total of 26 patients were included, mean age of 52.3 years (range: 33–78 years), undergoing 32 TAE procedures between January 2012 and December 2019 were included in this retrospective study. Distal embolization of the segmental hepatic artery was performed with 300–500 µm embolic microspheres associated with proximal embolization using microcoils. The primary endpoint was clinical efficacy, defined by an improvement in health-related quality of life using a modified Short Form-36 Health Survey and improvement in symptoms (digestive or respiratory symptoms and chronic abdominal pain), without invasive therapy during the follow-up period. Secondary endpoints were a decrease in total liver volume and treated liver volume and complications. Results: Hepatic embolization was performed successfully in 30 of 32 procedures with no major adverse events. Clinical efficacy was 73% (19/26). The mean reduction in hepatic volume was –12.6% at 3 months and –27.8% at the last follow-up 51 ± 15.2 months after TAE (range: 30–81 months; both ps < 0.01). The mean visual analog scale pain score was 5.4 ± 2.8 before TAE and decreased to 2.7 ± 1.9 after treatment. Three patients had minor adverse events, and one patient had an adverse event of moderate severity. Conclusion: Hepatic embolization using microspheres and microcoils is a safe and effective treatment for PLD that improves symptoms and reduces the volume of hepatic cysts.