Practice guidelines for ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for hepatic malignancy

Primary liver cancer and liver metastases are among the most frequent malignancies worldwide, with an increasing number of new cases and deaths every year. Traditional surgery is only suitable for a limited proportion of patients and imaging-guided percutaneous thermal ablation has achieved optimistic results for management of hepatic malignancy. This synopsis outlines the first clinical practice guidelines for ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation therapy for hepatic malignancy, which was created by a joint task force of the Society of Chinese Interventional Ultrasound. The guidelines aim at standardizing the microwave ablation procedure and therapeutic efficacy assessment, as well as proposing the criteria for the treatment candidates.