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Updated: Jun 4, 2026
Thermal Ablation for the Treatment of Abdominal Tumors
Published on: March 7, 2011
Principles of and advances in percutaneous ablation
Muneeb Ahmed1, Christopher L Brace, Fred T Lee
1Laboratory for Minimally Invasive Tumor Therapy, Section of Interventional Radiology, and Section of Abdominal Imaging, Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 1 Deaconess Rd, Boston, MA 02215, USA. mahmed@bidmc.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Image-guided tumor ablation with both thermal and nonthermal sources has received substantial attention for the treatment of many focal malignancies. Increasing interest has been accompanied by continual advances in energy delivery, application technique, and therapeutic combinations with the intent to improve the efficacy and/or specificity of ablative therapies. This review outlines clinical percutaneous tumor ablation technology, detailing the science, devices, techniques, technical obstacles, current trends, and future goals in percutaneous tumor ablation. Methods such as chemical ablation, cryoablation, high-temperature ablation (radiofrequency, microwave, laser, and ultrasound), and irreversible electroporation will be discussed. Advances in technique will also be covered, including combination therapies, tissue property modulation, and the role of computer modeling for treatment optimization.
