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Current role of microwave ablation in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinomas

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Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology   

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Annals of Gastroenterology   

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Current role of microwave ablation in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinomas (EN)
Tsetis, Dimitrios
Ierardi, Anna Maria
Giorlando, Francesca
Fontana, Federico
Carrafiello, Gianpaolo
Macchi, Edoardo
Livraghi, Lorenzo
Duka, Ejona
Lucchina, Natalie
Kehagias, Elias
Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can be as effective as surgical resection in terms of overall survival and recurrence-free survival rates in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Effectiveness of RFA is adversely influenced by heat-sink effect. Other ablative therapies could be considered for larger tumors or for tumors located near the vessels. In this regard, recent improvements in microwave energy delivery systems seem to open interesting perspectives to percutaneous ablation, which could become the ablation technique of choice in the near future. Microwave ablation (MWA) has the advantages of possessing a higher thermal efficiency. It has high efficacy in coagulating blood vessels and is a relatively fast procedure. The time required for ablation is short and the shape of necrosis is elliptical with the older systems and spherical with the new one. There is no heat-sink effect and it can be used to ablate tumors adjacent to major vessels. These factors yield a large ablation volume, and result in good local control and fewer complications. This review highlights the most relevant updates on MWA in the treatment of small (<3 cm) HCC. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility of MWA as the first ablative choice, at least in selected cases.Keywords Microwave ablation, small hepatocellular carcinoma, radiofrequency ablationAnn Gastroenterol 2016; 29 (4): 460-465 (EN)
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology
Annals of Gastroenterology
Review Articles
English
2016-09-29
http://www.annalsgastro.gr/index.php/annalsgastro/article/view/2675
Hellenic Society of Gastroenterology (EN)
1792-7463
1108-7471
Annals of Gastroenterology; Volume 29, No 4 (2016); 460 (EN)



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