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What Radiofrequency ablation can do
Radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors can relieve symptoms of your disease and may prolong the life of patients with liver cancer. Using heat almost every type of cancer can be treated.
It can be combined with almost all available treatment modalities. This means you can start with chemotherapy or any other treatment or clinical trial after the ablation is done, if desired.
The ablation is effective. In a study presented at a Surgical Conference we reported 88% treatment success by patients investigated at least 3 months up to 18 months. We also reported a very low complication rate. Most of our patients were discharged the day following surgery and experienced their quality of life a week after surgery similar to their prior status. We did not observe any long term side effects in patients because of their ablation procedure.
Hormone-secreting tumors like carcinoid or insulinomas cause symptoms such as flushing, diarrhea or elevated blood-pressure. After liver tumor ablation these symptoms may lessen or subside.
What Radiofrequency ablation can not do
As you might know from previous pages, liver tumors are ablated
after localization with ultrasound. This means that only lesions
which can be seen on ultrasound are finally ablated. Undetected
cancer cells, due to the technical limitations of ultrasound, are not
treated. Ultrasound can not detect cells, only microscopes can do
that. Therefore there is a chance that new lesions in the liver can
occur at some point after ablation.
If we see in the follow-up CT-scans new liver lesions, you can have
the ablation procedure repeated.
Radiofrequency ablation treats the tumor locally - similar to surgery
or cryotherapy, therefore our radiofrequency ablation method can not
treat cancer outside the liver at this time.
There is a chance that some tumor cells will not be killed during ablation. Risk factors for remaining viable tumor cells are:
Radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors is not considered a cure from cancer disease.
Complications of radiofrequency ablation
The complication rate of laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation of
liver tumors is very low, especially since our patients comprise a
group with advanced cancer disease.
All surgeries are performed under general anesthesia, which poses
certain risks. Questions regarding general anesthesia should be
directed to the anesthesiologist assigned to your surgery during the
preoperative meeting.
From a surgical point of view, the possible complications of operations are bleeding, infection and inadequate wound healing. However, because the procedure is performed laparoscopically, the risk of infection is lower. To date we have had only one case with a postoperative infection, and have not experienced any bleeding or wound healing complications.
We also have not observed any long term complications.
A small (5 mm) rim of normal liver cells around the tumor is also ablated. That could affect liver function. Liver function parameter investigation, however, showed a normalization a week after surgery. No long-term impairment of liver function was observed in any patient.
If you compare the possible benefits and the possible negative effects of the procedure, the weight is clearly on the benefit side. The vast majority leave the hospital the day following the operation and reaches the preoperative life activity within one week.
Conclusion
Radiofrequency Ablation of liver tumors potentially can ablate all
tumor visible in ultrasound within the liver. The impact on the
patients is minimal so that patients can be discharged one day after
surgery. The procedure has a low complication rate and no long-term
side effects.
Radiofrequency Ablation may therefore prolong life and improve
quality of life, but we don't see it as a cure from cancer
disease.
Based on the previous shown benefits and risks to be enrolled, patients should meet the following criteria :
Our treatment method is therefore for patients with cancer disease confined exclusively to the liver. We think that patients with additional cancer outside the liver would not benefit enough from the procedure. However, there may be exceptions to that rule. All patients who feel they would be a probable candidate for liver tumor ablation, are encouraged to contact us for further evaluation.
