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Review
. 2008 Dec 21;14(47):7170-4.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.7170.

Laser ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma--a review

Affiliations
Review

Laser ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma--a review

Antony Lawrence Gough-Palmer et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

A wide range of local thermal ablative therapies have been developed in the treatment of non resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the last decade. Laser ablation (LA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are the two most widely used of these. This article provides an up to date overview of the role of laser ablation in the local treatment of HCC. General principles, technique, image guidance and patient selection are discussed. A review of published data on treatment efficacy, long term outcome and complication rates of laser ablation is included and comparison with RFA made. The role of laser ablation in combination with transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation is also discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Typical MRI appearances pre and post laser ablation of a small HCC in a 73-year-old male patient with hepatitis C cirrhosis. T2-weighted axial images demonstrate a high signal 2.5 cm segment VIII HCC (A). At one month post treatment (B) a typical low signal laser burn is demonstrated with high signal centre which has shrunk in size at 10 mo follow up (C). T1-weighted post contrast images of the same lesion demonstrate heterogeneous arterial enhancement pre-treatment (D), with non-enhancing scar at 1 mo (E) and persistent non-enhancement at 10 mo (F).

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