Radiofrequency ablation of liver metastases from cancer of unknown primary site.
OBJECTIVE
This retrospective study was performed to review the efficacy of local radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in all the management of liver cancer of unknown primary site (CUP), and to identify possible prognostic features and complications that affect the efficacy of this treatment on survival.


METHODS
From April 2003 to December 2007, 22 patients (15 men, 7 women) with a total of 36 liver metastasis of CUP and poor response to prior systemic chemotherapy were treated with computed tomography-guided RFA. The median age of patients was 66 years. All patients (22/22) had 1-, 3-, and 6- month follow-up and 8/22 of them had a 12-month followup.


RESULTS
The overall median survival of all 22 patients was 10.9 months. Survival was better in patients with lesions 3 cm or smaller. No severe complications, including local seeding, were occured.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study revealed that RFA appears to be an effective, safe and relatively simple alternative procedure for the local ablation of these lesions. These results are more encouraging for lesions 3 cm or smaller, all of which were successfully treated, as proved by the imaging criteria and the statistical analysis. Further prospective trials are needed to determine whether RFA should be proposed for standard protocols.
Mylona
Sophia
S
Department of Radiology, Red Cross Hospital, Athens, Greece. mylonasophia@yahoo.com
Stroumpouli
Evangelia
E
Pomoni
Maria
M
Galani
Panagiota
P
Ntai
Sparti
S
Thanos
Loukas
L
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009382:Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D000078702:Radiofrequency Therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed