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Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Thermal Ablation for the Treatment of Abdominal Tumors
Published on: March 7, 2011
Transthoracic hepatic radiofrequency ablation
N N Lee1, R W O'Rourke, J Cheng
1Oregon Health & Science University Medical School, Portland, OR, USA.
Background:
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an alternative for the treatment of unresectable hepatic tumors. Tumors beneath the diaphragmatic dome may be difficult to access by laparoscopy. In these cases, a transthoracic transdiaphragmatic approach for delivering RFA can be used.
Methods:
Three patients with hepatic metastatic disease were treated using a transthoracic transdiaphragmatic approach to deliver RFA therapy for tumors in liver segments 7 and 8. The patients underwent thoracoscopy. The tumors were identified using transdiaphragmatic ultrasound, and transthoracic transdiaphragmatic RFA (TTRFA) was performed.
Results:
In three patients, TTRFA was successfully used to ablate five lesions. There were no perioperative complications, blood loss was minimal,and postoperative hospital stays ranged from 2 to 8 days. There were no recurrences during a follow-up period of 4 to 20 months.
Conclusions:
TTRFA is a viable alternative for hepatic tumors located beneath the dome of the diaphragm that are difficult to access by laparoscopy.
