Outcome of radiofrequency ablation over partial nephrectomy for small renal mass (<4 cm): a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE A meta-analysis was undertaken to provide evidence-based clinical trials comparing radiofrequency ablation with partial nephrectomy for small renal mass. METHODS We searched through the major medical databases such as Pub Med, EMBASE, Medline, Science Citation Index, Web of Science and CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database) and Wangfang (Database of Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology) for all published studies without any limit on language from May 2007 until May 2015. The following search terms wereused: partial nephrectomy, radiofrequency ablation, renal cell carcinoma, small renal tumor or mass. Furthermore, additional related studies were manually searched in the reference lists of all published reviews and retrieved articles. RESULTS We found there were no statistical differences between groups in 5y-DFS, recurrence rates, complications, but a less percentage decease rate of GFR than PN, and RFA may be a better application for SRM (<4 cm).