[Imaging-guided therapy of primary tumors of the liver]

Primitive tumor of the liver, associated with cirrhosis with 40-80% of incidence, isn't one of the most common malignant neoplasms in the western area but it holds low survival and diminished possibilities of radical exeresis. A few years ago it has enrolled several non-invasive imaging-guided techniques, alternative or complementary to surgery, for the treatment of hepatic carcinoma. The authors carried out a review of the literature of the past years referring to no invasive imaging guided techniques for the treatment of liver neoplasms and they describe the therapeutical indications, advantages and disadvantages of their application and the complications reported. Although this is a controversial subject, with several lines of actuation, the present report demonstrate that the intraoperative echography, chemoembolization, radiochemoembolization and percutaneous alcoholization are more feasible because definite indications and acceptable results.