Application of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation in treatment of liver cancer / 中华外科杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the therapeutic efficacy and its influencing factors of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (PRFA) in the treatment of liver carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>With a temperature-controlled multi-electrode needle, ultrasound-guided PRFA was employed to treat forty-seven patients with 67 tumor nodules, with a diameter of 2.6 +/- 1.1 cm (1.0 - 5.5 cm).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A complete ablation (CA) rate of 80.6% was achieved in the present series, with a CA rate of 91.7% in the tumors < or = 3 cm in diameter, 75.0% in tumors from 3.1 to 4.0 cm, and 14.3% in tumors > 4 cm. The CA rate was significantly greater in tumors with a temperature rising up to 70 degrees C within the initial 2 minutes at ablation as compared with that longer than 2 minutes (P < 0.05). A markedly higher CA rate was obtained in tumors with an ablation-maintaining temperature of over 80 degrees C than that between 70 degrees C and 80 degrees C (P < 0.01). All patients were followed up with a mean time of 11.3 months. The local recurrence rate was 9.3% (5/54), and 1-year survival rate was 82.1%. Eighteen patients (38.3%) had a distant recurrence.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The tumor size, temperature-rising time and ablation-maintaining temperature represented the important factors affecting the therapeutic efficacy of PRFA.</p>