[Radiofrequency ablation in the multimodal treatment of liver metastases--preliminary report].

UNLABELLED: Although the "gold standard" in the multimodal treatment of liver primary and secondary tumors is the surgical ablation, the rate of resection, despite the last decades advances, remains still low (10 - 20%). In addition, the interest for non-surgical ablation therapies is increasing. Among them, regional or systemic chemotherapy, intra-arterial radiotherapy as well as locally targeted therapies--cryotherapy, alcohol instillation and radiofrequency (RF) are the most valuable options as alternative to the surgical approach.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Between February 2005 - January 2007, 9 patients with liver metastases underwent open RF ablation of their secondaries in the III-rd Surgical Unit, "St. Spiridon" Hospital. An Elektrotom 106 HiTT Berchtold device with a 60W power generator and a 15 mm monopolar active electrode was used.

RESULTS

Destruction of the tumors was certified with intraoperative ultrasound examination. Pre- and postoperative CarcinoEmbryonic Antigen (CEA) together with imaging follow-up was carried out, in order to determine local or systemic recurrencies. Six patients died between 6 month - 4 years after the RF ablation. Median survival is 29.2 months.

CONCLUSION

RF ablation is a challenge alternative in non-resectable liver tumors.