[Experience of radiofrequency ablation on liver malignancies: a report of 803 cases].
OBJECTIVE
To summarize the 8-year experience of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on liver malignancies and explore the effect and prognostic factors.


METHODS
From August 1999 to February 2007, 803 patients with liver malignancies, among which there were 672 with primary liver cancer (PLC) and 131 with liver metastasis, were treated with RFA. There were 781 cases who were performed percutaneously under the guidance of ultrasound, 8 cases under CT, 9 cases with laparoscopy and 5 cases with laparotomy. And there were 117 cases who were treated by RFA combined with percutaneous ethanol injection and 108 cases by RFA combined with trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization.


RESULTS
In the treatment of all the 803 patients with liver malignancies, the mortality was 0.25%, the rate of severe complications was 0.37%. The rate of complete ablation was 92.5%, the loco-recurrence rate was 13.8% and the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-year survivals were 95.1%, 85.6%, 75.7%, 60.7% and 47.5%, respectively. For the 672 patients with PLCs, the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-year survivals with stage Ia (Chinese staging system) were 97.8%, 91.5%, 84.6%, 77.1% and 61.9%, respectively, with stage Ib were 93.9%, 83.7%, 69.8%, 45.1% and 42.2%, respectively, with stage II were 86.2%, 67.3%, 47.3%, 17.2% and 0, respectively, and the 1, 2-year survivals with stage III were 67.8% and 0, respectively (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
RFA is a safe and effective method for liver malignancy, and the tumor size and stage are important prognostic factors.
Chen
Min-shan
MS
Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Cancer Centre of Sun Yat-Sen University, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou 510060, China. cms64@21cn.com
Zhang
Yao-jun
YJ
Li
Jin-qing
JQ
Liang
Hui-hong
HH
Zhang
Ya-qi
YQ
Lin
Xiao-jun
XJ
Zheng
Yun
Y
Xu
Li
L
Wan
Y Lau
YL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome