Radiofrequency Ablation Shown to Improve Quality of Life in Patients With Debilitating Bone Tumors

March 16, 2021—The OPUS ONE study demonstrated that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients treated for painful osseous metastases resulted in improved quality of life (QoL), announced the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR). OPUS ONE is the postmarket study of the OsteoCool RFA system (Medtronic).

According to the announcement, RFA provides quick and sustained pain relief and improves QoL for patients whose cancer has spread to their bones. As a palliative treatment, RFA is effective in providing relief in as little as 3 days, and the benefits last more than 12 months, which is a significant improvement over radiation treatment.

These findings are presented as part of the SIR annual scientific meeting, the sessions for which will be held virtually March 20-26, 2021. The study abstract, number 78, can be found at sirmeeting.org.

In this study, RFA was used to treat painful metastatic bone lesions, killing tumor cells, and destroying nerve fibers to reduce or stop transmission of pain signals to the brain. RFA treatment was followed up with cement injection to help stabilize the bone and prevent fractures that are known to result following other treatments, such as radiation.

“Commonly used radiation treatments can take weeks to provide pain relief,” commented Jason R. Levy, MD, a lead investigator of the study, in the SIR announcement. “A few weeks can represent a large portion of the remaining life in these patients, and RFA may be able to give them the best QoL possible in the time they have left.” Dr. Levy is a vascular and interventional radiologist at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

As described in the announcement, the OPUS ONE investigators enrolled 218 patients at 15 sites around the world between October 2017 and February 2020. Patients completed questionnaires to measure their QoL and pain levels before the procedure, 3 days after it, and then intermittently through the 1-year mark. Investigators used both the five-level EurolQol scale and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QoL measurement.

Significant improvements were seen in 59 patients who completed the EurolQol at 12 months and similar improvements were seen for 14 patients who completed the 12-month EORTC QoL. Because of the palliative nature of the treatment, many patients were unable to be surveyed through the entire 12-month milestone.

“What set our results apart from prior research is the sheer speed and durability of this treatment,” stated Dr. Levy. “As a result, we believe this treatment should be available to more patients with metastatic cancer earlier in their treatment path.”

The study focused on lytic bone metastases, a common type of bone tumor found in many cancer patients, making the treatment an option for a wide range of cancer patients. Predominant initial cancers in this study were breast, lung, and kidney. A limitation of the study was that many patients were lost to follow-up because of death related to the underlying cancer, noted SIR.