[Interventional procedures for hepatic metastases]

Abstract

The therapeutic concept for hepatic metastases is mainly based on surgical resection and systemic chemotherapy. Considering technical respectability, oncological significance and limiting comorbidities, only 10-30% of patients with hepatic metastases can undergo surgery with a curative intention. Patients assessed as being non-resectable qualify in general for (palliative) chemotherapy. However, for many patients surgical therapy of the liver is no longer possible due to medical or technical reasons, nevertheless, the total tumor load is still limited, which makes an interventional, local ablative therapy approach promising, with and without chemotherapy. Thus, various interventional-radiological, minimally invasive techniques could be successfully established as oncological therapy components besides surgery and chemotherapy. These types of intervention encompass mainly chemotherapy (percutaneous alcohol instillation, transarterial chemoembolization and transarterial chemotherapy), thermotherapy (radiofrequency, laser and microwave ablations) and radio-ablative procedures (radio-embolization, selective internal radiation therapy SIRT, interstitial and catheter-guided brachytherapy). Incorporating these procedures into therapeutic multimodal concepts inaugurates a significantly broadened therapy spectrum with a clear additional improvement in patient prognosis.