Thermal-ablation of vertebral metastases prevents adverse events in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma

Purpose: To evaluate a strategy that used thermal-ablation of vertebral metastases (VM) to prevent vertebral related events (VRE) in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Methods: This single center study retrospectively reviewed records and post-operative imaging of all DTC patients treated with thermal-ablation for asymptomatic VMs. Rate of local tumor control at first post-operative imaging, 12 and 24 months after thermal-ablation and rate of VREs at 12 and 24 months among the treated VMs were reported. New VMs that occurred during the follow-up and were not considered for additional thermal-ablation were moniroted and VREs were reported. Results: Thermal-ablation was used to achieve local control of 41 VMs in 28 patients. Median post-treatment follow-up was 22 months [range: 12–80] and the mean delay for first post-operative imaging was 2 months [range: 0.6–7.5]. Local control at first post-operative imaging, 12 and 24 months was achieved in 87.8%, 82.9% and 75.6%, respectively. Among the treated VMs the rates of VRE was 7.3% at 2 years, significantly lower if local control was achieved at first post-operative imaging than if it was not (0% vs 30%, p = 0.011, OR = 0.184 [95%CI = 0.094–0.360]). After thermal-ablation procedures, 19 news VMs occurred in 11 patients (39.2%) with a median interval of 8 months [range 1–26] and remained untreated. Among these untreated VMs, the rate of VREs at 2 years was significantly higher compared to the treated VMs: (36.8% vs. 7.3%, p = 0.008, OR = 0.135, [95%CI = 0.030-0.607]). Conclusion: local tumor control of VMs using thermal-ablation decreases the risk of VREs in DTC patients.