Percutaneous treatment of extrahepatic recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Purpose: The goal of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the results of imaging-guided percutaneous ablation in patients with controlled intrahepatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with limited extrahepatic disease.

Materials and methods: Eleven patients with limited extrahepatic disease and/or potential short-term clinical manifestations with controlled primary intrahepatic HCC were included into the study. There were nine men and two women, with a mean age of 67.4 years±10.2 (SD) (range: 54-85 years). All patients had extrahepatic disease treated by either radiofrequency ablation or electroporation. Extrahepatic disease consisted of lymph node metastases (5 patients), tumor seeding along a needle tract (3 patients), adrenal gland metastasis, bone metastasis and pulmonary metastasis (one patient each).

Results: Response to treatment was complete in 7/11 patients (64%). The mean survival time after treatment was 18.8±12.7 (SD) months (median, 16 months; range: 4-42 months). No severe complications associated with percutaneous treatment were observed.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that imaging-guided percutaneous ablation techniques should be considered as a useful option for the treatment of extrahepatic disease in patients with HCC. Further studies are needed, however to fully determine the potential role of these techniques in this elective application.

Keywords: Electroporation; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Microwave ablation; Percutaneous treatment; Radiofrequency ablation.