Role of radiofrequency ablation in treatment of liver malignancies

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is now the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. The liver is the primary site of metastatic malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. Hepatic metastases cause significant morbidity and mortality in patients with colorectal cancer. Surgical resection is, currently, the only potential curative treatment for primary and secondary malignant diseases of the liver. However most of patients are not candidate for hepatic resection. So minimally invasive methods as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has a significant role in treatment of liver malignancies The main advantage of RFA is the ability to preserve the uninvolved hepatic parenchyma with destruction of only a small rim of surrounding healthy liver tissue. Contraindications to treatment include sepsis, sever debilitation and uncorrectable coagulopathies. Tri-phase contrast-enhanced CT examination is the best technique used in follow up after RFA In our study, RITA RFA system was used for treatment of liver tumors. Twenty patients were divided by the nature of hepatic focal lesion into two groups, group A (HCC group) eighteen patients had twenty one lesions were treated by twenty two RFA sessions; complete ablation was (77.8%), residual was (5.6%) and recurrence was (16.7%). Group B (metastatic group) two patients had two lesions (each patient had one lesion) were treated by two RFA sessions, no residual or recurrence was detected. Major complication was (27.8%) in group A, no major complications in group B. In conclusion; RFA is an effective treatment for unresectable primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies with minimal complications and further studies with larger number of patients are necessary for further assessment of RFA results and safety.