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Updated: Aug 30, 2025
Author Spotlight: Advancing Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Tumor Treatment with Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques
Published on: September 27, 2024
The latest research progress on minimally invasive treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma
Ya-Wen Zou1, Zhi-Gang Ren1, Ying Sun1
1Department of Infectious Diseases, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China; Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Translational Medicine of Zhejiang Province, 2959 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310000, China; Gene Hospital of Henan Province; Precision Medicine Center, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, China.
Background:
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Due to the high prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in China, the incidence of HCC in China is high, and liver cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis also brings great challenges to treatment. This paper reviewed the latest research progress on minimally invasive treatments for HCC, including percutaneous thermal ablation and new nonthermal ablation techniques, and introduced the principles, advantages, and clinical applications of various therapeutic methods in detail.
Data Sources:
The data of treatments for HCC were systematically collected from the PubMed, ScienceDirect, American Chemical Society and Web of Science databases published in English, using "minimally invasive" and "hepatocellular carcinoma" or "liver cancer" as the keywords.
Results:
Percutaneous thermal ablation is still a first-line strategy for the minimally invasive treatment of HCC. The effect of microwave ablation (MWA) on downgrading treatment before liver transplantation is better than that of radiofrequency ablation (RFA), while RFA is more widely used in the clinical practice. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is mainly used for the palliative treatment of advanced liver cancer. Electrochemotherapy (ECT) delivers chemotherapeutic drugs to the target cells while reducing the blood supply around HCC. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) uses a microsecond-pulsed electric field that induces apoptosis and necrosis and triggers a systemic immune response. The nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) has achieved a good response in the ablation of mice with HCC, but it has not been reported in China for the treatment of human HCC.
Conclusions:
A variety of minimally invasive treatments provide a sufficient survival advantage for HCC patients. Nonthermal ablation will lead to a new wave with its unique advantage of antitumor recurrence and metastasis.
