Complications of high intensity focused ultrasound for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a noninvasive treatment modality that induces complete coagulative necrosis of a deep tumor through the intact skin. This study was conducted to analyze and evaluate the complications of HIFU for the treatments of hepatocellular carcinoma. A total of 59 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, with a total of 72 lessions were enrolled in this study. Tumor size ranged from 2.5 to 14.0 cm in diameter, with a mean diameter of 7.6 cm. All patients had accepted HIFU treatment, and the median number of HIFU sessions was 1.32 per patient.

The common complications from HIFU therapy were skin burns of various grades (eight cases of grade 1 skin burns, 48 of grade 2, three cases of 3), and pain in the treatment regions (15 cases of mild pain, 37 cases of moderate pain, 7 cased of severe pain). Other systemic complications were relatively rare and included fever (5 cases), hypertension (8 cases), supraventricular tachycardia (3 cases), mild impairment of hepatic function (48 cases), and mild mpairment of renal function (2 cases). Local damage consisted of acute cholecystitis (2 cases), hematuria (6 cases ), cholangiectasis (5 cases), light pericardial effusion (2 cases), impairment of peripheral nerves (10 cases), pleural effusion in the right thorax (3 cases), and impairment of vertebral column (1 case). No gastric or intestinal tract perforation, big vessel rupture, or hepatic rupture occurred.

HIFU is a minimally invasive treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma; however, there are some systemic and local complications that should be taken into consideration in evaluating HIFU for therapeutic use.