[Prolonged survival through combined treatment with radiofrequency ablation/ethanol instillation compared with radiofrequency ablation alone in the VX2 rabbit liver tumour model].
Combination of radiofrequency ablation (RFA)/ethanol instillation (EI) leads to higher survival rates compared to single RFA for the treatment of VX2 liver tumours in a rabbit tumour model.


BACKGROUND
To improve the outcome and survival rates of RFA in treatment of liver tumours, a comparative study of RFA with or without EI was performed.


METHODS
We implanted a single tumour in the liver of 46 rabbits. After 20 days, animals were treated with RFA/EI or RFA alone. The animals were observed for a maximum of 110 days, after which an autopsy was conducted.


RESULTS
30 animals of the RFA group and 16 of combination therapy were analysed. After interim analysis with the Kaplan-Meier method, a significantly higher survival rate for the combination therapy was observed (P = 0.004). Following the study design, the experiment was therefore terminated ahead of schedule. Rate of metastasis (M) and local recurrence (LR) did not differ between the combination or RFA alone.


CONCLUSIONS
RFA/EI is superior to treatment with RFA alone with regard to survival rates.
Frieser
M
M
Medizinische Klinik 1 im NOZ der FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg. markus.frieser@med1.imed.uni-erlangen.de
Schaber
S
S
Strobel
D
D
Bernatik
T
T
Wehr
H
H
Peters
A
A
Hahn
E G
EG
Haensler
J
J
D000818:Animals; D001344:Autopsy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003643:Death; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007322:Instillation, Drug; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D011817:Rabbits; D011846:Radio Waves; D014463:Ultrasonography
D000431:Ethanol