Intraoperative radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: long-term results in a large series

Intraoperative radiofrequency (RF) ablation with or without surgical resection currently plays one of important roles in modern hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) therapy. We evaluated long-term follow-up results including prognostic factors of intraoperative RF ablation for HCC that was difficult to treat percutaneously.

A total of 133 patients (male, 22 female, mean age 55.8 years) underwent intraoperative RF ablations for 200 HCCs (follow-up period 3.0-79.7 months, median 22.3 months). Hepatic resection was also performed in 29 patients. Reasons for the intraoperative procedure included no safe electrode path (n = 59), excessive tumor burden (n = 41), nonvisualization of the HCC on ultrasonography (n = 20), and risk of collateral thermal damage to adjacent organs (n = 13). We evaluated the technique effectiveness rate at 1 month computed tomography (CT), cumulative local tumor progression rate, cumulative disease-free and overall survival rates, and complications. We also sought significant prognostic factors for overall survival.

The technique effectiveness at 1 month was 94.7% (126/133). The cumulative local tumor progression rates at 1 and 3 years were 4.9% and 8.8%, respectively. The cumulative disease-free and overall survival rates at 1, 3 and 5 years were 51.8%, 21.3%, and 16.0% and 92.3%, 72.6%, and 46.5%, respectively. Major complications occurred in nine patients (6.8%). Procedure-related mortality was 1.5% (2/133). The patients treated for recurrent HCC (P = 0.003) or with high serum alpha-fetoprotein levels (P = 0.009) had poor survival by multivariate analysis.

The results of this study showed that intraoperative radiofrequency ablation with or without hepatic resection is a safe and effective treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients who are not candidates for the percutaneous approach.