Clinical Study on Cool-tip Ultrasound-guided Radiofrequency Ablation Treatment of Hepatic Carcinoma

Objective To investigate the role of treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with cooling cycle ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation.Methods One hundred and forty-six liver neoplasm of 124 patients were treated with percutaneous RFA using multipoint sectors stereotactic under the ultrasonic-guidance.The RF electrode was punctured into the bottom of the tumor after the local or epidural anesthesia.The tumors were ablated from deep to shallow according to their size.Each point was treated for 5～12min.The treatment would be stopped when the tumor was completely covered by strong echo with 0.5cm beyond the border of normal liver parenchyma and the needle tract was closed then.Contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) was examined 15min after the treatment to determine whether the tumor was completely inactivated.If the CEUS imaging showed that inactivation was not complete,then the above treatment would be repeated once again;The therapeutic effect was assessed using enhanced computed tomography(CECT) or CEUS after one month.Results In this study, 146 tumors were reviewed by CECT and 126 tumors by CEUS one month after the treatment.In 146 tumors reviewed by CECT,125 tumors had no enhancement(85.62%),the size of 125 tumors3.0cm in diameter(91.67%),34 tumors～5cm(85.00%),34 tumors～6cm(80. 95%),13 tumors～10cm(81.25%).In 126 tumors reviewed by CEUS,106 tumors had no enhancement(84.13%),the size of 31 tumors 3.0cm in diameter(86.11%),31 tumors～5cm(85.29%),35 tumors～6cm(83.33%),3 tumors～10cm(78.57%).There was no significant difference between CECT and CEUS.Conclusions Ultrasound-guided monopolar cooling cycle RFA treatment of liver cancer may be reliable and high security,having wide serviceable range,minor trauma and a greater inactivation rate of liver cancer.