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Updated: Nov 2, 2025

Thermal Ablation for the Treatment of Abdominal Tumors
Published on: March 7, 2011
Assessment of safety margin after microwave ablation of stage I NSCLC with three-dimensional reconstruction technique
Peng Yan1, An-Na Tong2, Xiu-Li Nie3
1Department of Oncology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
Objective:
To assess the ablative margin of microwave ablation (MWA) for stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction technique.
Materials And Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed 36 patients with stage I NSCLC lesions undergoing MWA and analyzed the relationship between minimal ablative margin and the local tumor progression (LTP) interval, the distant metastasis interval and disease-free survival (DFS). The minimal ablative margin was measured using the fusion of 3D computed tomography reconstruction technique.
Results:
Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that tumor size (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.91, P < 0.01; HR = 2.41, P = 0.01) and minimal ablative margin (HR = 0.13, P < 0.01; HR = 0.11, P < 0.01) were independent prognostic factors for the LTP interval. Tumor size (HR = 1.96, P < 0.01; HR = 2.35, P < 0.01) and minimal ablative margin (HR = 0.17, P < 0.01; HR = 0.13, P < 0.01) were independent prognostic factors for DFS by univariate and multivariate analyses. In the group with a minimal ablative margin < 5 mm, the 1-year and 2-year local progression-free rates were 35.7% and 15.9%, respectively. The 1-year and 2-year distant metastasis-free rates were 75.6% and 75.6%, respectively; the 1-year and 2-year disease-free survival rates were 16.7% and 11.1%, respectively. In the group with a minimal ablative margin ≥ 5 mm, the 1-year and 2-year local progression-free rates were 88.9% and 69.4%, respectively. The 1-year and 2-year distant metastasis-free rates were 94.4% and 86.6%, respectively; the 1-year and 2-year disease-free survival rates were 88.9% and 63.7%, respectively. The feasibility of 3D quantitative analysis of the ablative margins after MWA for NSCLC has been validated.
Conclusions:
The minimal ablative margin is an independent factor of NSCLC relapse after MWA, and the fusion of 3D reconstruction technique can feasibly assess the minimal ablative margin.

