Bipolar radiofrequency ablation for liver tumors: comparison of contrast-enhanced ultrasound with contrast-enhanced MRI/CT in the posttreatment imaging evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess the role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in treatment response evaluation after percutaneous bipolar radiofrequency ablation (BRFA) for liver tumors. METHODS: From May 2012 to May 2014, 39 patients with 73 tumors were treated by BRFA. One month after the treatment, CEUS and CEMRI/CECT were conducted to evaluate the treatment response. The results of CEUS were compared with CEMRI/CECT. RESULTS: Of the 73 tumors ablated, eight (11.0%) were found to have residual viable tumor tissue and 65 (89.0%) were successfully ablated based on CEMRI/CECT within 1-month after ablation. CEUS detected seven of the eight residual tumors and 63 of 65 completely ablated tumors. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of CEUS were 87.5% (7/8), 96.9% (63/65), 77.8% (7/9), 98.4% (63/64) and 95.9% (70/73), respectively. The complete ablation (CR) rates for the tumors ≤ 3.0 cm, 3.1-5.0 cm, and >5.0 cm were 96.6% (58/60), 63.6% (7/11), and 0% (0/2), respectively (P<0.001). CR rates were 94.7% (36/38) for primary liver tumors and 82.9% (29/35) for metastatic liver tumors (P=0.212), and were 97.4% (38/39) for the tumors with curative treatment intention and 79.4% (27/34) for those with palliative treatment intention (P=0.037). Major complication was not encountered in this series. CONCLUSIONS: BRFA is an effective technique of percutaneous ablation for liver tumors and CEUS can be used to assess its therapeutic effect accurately.