Radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of breast cancer liver metastases

Minimally invasive, image-guided thermal ablation is gaining acceptance for the treatment of solid tumour deposits and its use is increasing. This overview discusses one method of thermal ablation in one palliative setting; the local control of breast cancer liver metastases (BCLM) using radiofrequency ablation. Breast cancer is common and over half of all women diagnosed with metastatic disease develop BCLM. The mainstay of therapy remains chemotherapy and supportive care, which may prolong survival to a median of 18-24 months. Despite breast cancer being considered a systemic disease, surgical series of metastectomy for BCLM have shown a survival advantage. Despite this, surgery for BCLM is rarely practiced due to the associated morbidity for a relatively meagre survival benefit. Similarly, radiofrequency ablation has been used for local control of BCLM; the reported series show a median survival of between 30 and 60 months, with no treatment-related deaths and only three serious treatment-related adverse events in 164 patients reported. Despite this, scepticism remains over the efficacy of BCLM ablation due to the heterogeneity of patient inclusion and selective nature of reporting. Randomised trials are needed to formulate robust evidence-based recommendations and direct the necessary allocation of health care resources. Whether or not local ablative treatment of BCLM conveys a survival advantage is an important consideration. However, in this non-curative setting, it is essential that other outcome measures are carefully evaluated in conjunction with survival, including symptoms (local and constitutional), quality of life and psychological morbidity. To these ends, a randomised, multicentre trial to assess best medical therapy alone versus best medical therapy plus radiofrequency ablation in patients presenting with newly diagnosed BCLM with or without the presence of stable extra-hepatic disease will shortly be underway.