Dr. Juan Rodriguez
Radiologist
Dignity Health – Dominican Hospital
Santa Cruz, CA
Patient Information: 82 y/o, M
Nodule Location: Right Kidney
Target Size: 3cm
Biopsy Result: Malignant, Renal Cell Cancer Grade 2
Instruments Used: SPiN Perc® Kit, 20cm, vTrack®
Conclusion: Successful ablation of lesion; routine follow-up
“The Veran IR navigation platform helped facilitate the accuracy of the biopsy and made the ablation very straightforward. Using Veran in this procedure significantly reduced the total procedure time.”
Patient History
This patient presented with a small lesion in the right kidney over 5 years ago. The patient’s care team practiced watchful waiting until the tumor grew rapidly to over 3cm in size. He was referred to interventional radiologist Dr. Rodriguez for a diagnosis and possible ablation for treatment.
Planning
Dr. Rodriguez planned to scan the patient and perform the procedure in the prone position to best access the mass in the right kidney. Using an initial scan with Veran CT scan protocol, Dr. Rodriguez noted the lesion was located in the posterior part of the kidney, very close to the diaphragm, which would make Veran’s respiratory gating essential in accurately accessing the lesion.
Procedure
The patient was given mild sedation and the posterior abdomen was prepped and draped. Using the SPiN IR® software, Dr. Rodriguez carefully planned his needle trajectory to access the lesion. He navigated into the lesion with the SPiN Perc® introducer needle and took multiple biopsies with the core biopsy gun. ROSE confirmed his suspicion that the lesion was malignant. The procedure transitioned to ablation for treatment. For continued guidance with the SPiN IR® platform, Dr. Rodriguez attached a vTrack™ to the hub of his ablation probe of choice, the BTG IcePearl™ ablation probe. During the ablation procedure, there was no need to repeat CT scans as the ablation probe tip and area of treatment was continuously tracked with the SPiN IR® software. Two rounds of cryoablation were performed for a period of 10 minutes each. A final CT scan at the end of the procedure confirmed the correct area containing the lesion was ablated. The respiratory gating and continuous tracking of his instruments with Veran assisted Dr. Rodriguez in quickly and accurately diagnosing and treating this patient.
