Interventional Treatment in Small-Sized Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Microwave Ablation: Evaluation of Local Response and Survival - European Medical Journal

Interventional Treatment in Small-Sized Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Microwave Ablation: Evaluation of Local Response and Survival

2 Mins
Radiology
Authors:
*Thomas Vogl,1 Hamzah Adwan,1 Jörg Trojan,2 Nagy Naguib,1 Tatjana Gruber-Rouh1
  • 1. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany
  • 2. Medical Clinic I, University Hospital Frankfurt, Germany
*Correspondence to [email protected]
Disclosure:

The authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

Citation:
EMJ Radiol. ;4[1]:31-32. DOI/10.33590/emjradiol/10303169. https://doi.org/10.33590/emjradiol/10303169.
Keywords:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), microwave ablation (MWA), percutaneous ablation.

Each article is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

To retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of CT-guided percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) of small-sized (≤2 cm) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) regarding therapy response and survival rates. The goal is to compare data from minimal invasive treatments like MWA and radiofrequency ablation in comparison to surgical resection or data from liver transplantation.1-3

MATERIALS AND METHODS

CT-guided MWA was performed in 87 patients (16 females; 71 males; mean age: 63.8±10.8 years) with 130 small-sized HCC lesions. The MWA device used was the Emprint™ (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) with the Thermosphere™ Technology Covidien (Medtronic) system. After local anaesthesia, a small skin incision was made to percutaneously insert the microwave antenna into the target lesion. Following the insertion and positioning of the antenna in the lesion under CT guidance (Somatom Sensation 64 [Siemens, Munich, Germany]), the thermal ablation was performed according to the manufactural protocol. For monitoring the ablation process, CT fluoroscopic scans were repeatedly performed.

All cases were evaluated according to axial diameter of tumour, volume of post-ablation zone, technical success, complete ablation, therapy response, overall survival, and progression-free survival. Contrast-enhanced MRI was performed post-ablation to evaluate the response to MWA.

RESULTS

The mean axial diameter of the tumour was 1.4 cm (range: 0.5–2.0 cm), and the mean post-ablation volume was 32.6 cm³. A technical success rate of 100% was achieved in all ablations (130 out of 130). The complete ablation rate was 97.7% (127 out of 130) of all tumours. The rate of local tumour progression (LTP) was 4.6% (4 out of 87) and the rate of intrahepatic distant recurrence was 36.8% (32 out of 87). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates were 94.3%, 66.4%, and 53.8%, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year progression-free survival rates were 70.5%, 46.4%, and 33%, respectively. No peri-procedural deaths were reported.

CONCLUSION

Image-guided interventional treatment such as percutaneous thermal ablation is of increasing importance in the therapy of HCC. Interdisciplinary teams consisting of surgeons, interventional radiologists, oncologists, hepatologists, and radiation oncologists must decide on the best treatment option in treating HCC: surgery, image-guided thermal ablation, intra-arterial methods, or radiation therapy. For this, they need to consider location and size of the tumour, liver function, existence of extrahepatic manifestation, overall health of the patients, and patient preference.

The main challenge in treating patients with HCC by local ablative techniques such as MWA is the development of LTP or intrahepatic distant recurrence. Here, the authors showed that the rate of LTP was 4.6% (4 out of 87), and the rate of intrahepatic distant recurrence 36.8% (32 out of 87). Other authors reported rates of LTP from 8.8% to 29.2%,4-6 while evaluating MWA of HCC.

The authors achieved an initial complete ablation in 97.7% (127 out of 130) of all tumours using MWA. Prior studies that examined MWA reported initial complete ablation rates from 71.1–98.5%.7,8

The authors’ study had some limitations. First, it was a retrospective study and some important parameters for a well-matched study were not available. Thus, a prospective randomised study could investigate and evaluate the efficacy and safety of MWA in the treatment of HCC more accurately. Secondly, this study did not consider the possible effect of pre-treatments such as trans-arterial chemoembolisation. In addition, a multicentre study may include a larger population of patients and combine expertise from different institutes, which would evaluate this approach more comprehensibly.

References
Raza A, Sood GK. Hepatocellular carcinoma review: current treatment, and evidence-based medicine. World J Gastroenterol. 2014;20(15):4115-27. Giorgio A et al. Microwave ablation in intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: an Italian multicenter prospective study. J Clin Transl Hepatol. 2018;6(3):251-7. Chong CCN et al. Microwave ablation provides better survival than liver resection for hepato-cellular carcinoma in patients with borderline liver function: application of ALBI score to patient selection. HPB (Oxford). 2018;20(6):546-54. Xu Y et al. Microwave ablation for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma that met up-to-seven criteria: feasibility, local efficacy and long-term outcomes. Eur Radiol. 2017;27(9):3877-87. Biondetti P et al. Percutaneous US-guided MWA of small liver HCC: predictors of outcome and risk factors for complications from a single center experience. Med Oncol. 2020;37(5):39. Ierardi AM et al. Factors predicting outcomes of microwave ablation of small hepatocellular carcinoma. Radiol Med. 2017;122(2):81-7. Wang T et al. Microwave ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma as first-line treatment: long term outcomes and prognostic factors in 221 patients. Sci Rep. 2016;6:32728. Pusceddu C et al. Percutaneous microwave ablation under CT guidance for hepatocellular carcinoma: a single institutional experience. J Gastrointest Cancer. 2018;49(3):295-301.

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