Histopathologic Evaluation of Tissue Extracted on the Radiofrequency Probe After Ablation of Liver Tumors: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

Histopathologic evaluation of the tissue extracted on the radiofrequency probe after ablation is feasible. This study showed that coagulation necrosis was clearly present in at least 40% of the patients, which proves that nonviable tissue can be seen immediately after ablation. Whether this pathologic finding has prognostic value is not known.

Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases: Factors Affecting Outcomes—A 10-year Experience at a Single Center

“…Similarly, Solbiati et al (13) showed that patients without any LTP had the longest OS (63 months), followed by patients who underwent reablation for LTP (46 Another limitation was the lack of histopathologic evaluation of the target tumors before ablation, as well as the lack of histopathologic evaluation of the ablation zone and margins for viable tumor cells after ablation. Such examinations can offer important information regarding tumor biology and could help identify patients at risk for progression before or immediately after ablation (21,(32)(33)(34). Although patients who were candidates for repeated local therapy of liver recurrences were treated mostly with percutaneous RFA, a few patients were treated with other modalities or with surgery.…”

Navigator respiratory‐triggered diffusion‐weighted imaging in the follow‐up after hepatic radiofrequency ablation—initial results

“…Studies investigating time-related image characteristics and histopathological findings after hepatic RF ablation identified typical changes in the microstructure of the coagulation zone (12,13). Due to the DWI-inherent sensitivity for structural changes in tissue architecture, it is assumable that this imaging technique could be particularly useful in the follow-up control after thermal ablation therapy.…”

Evaluation of YO-PRO-1 as an early marker of apoptosis following radiofrequency ablation of colon cancer liver metastases

“…Unlike prior studies that evaluated tissues extracted on the RFA electrode with immunohistochemical methods that usually require lengthy processing (Sofocleous et al 2004(Sofocleous et al , 2008(Sofocleous et al , 2011(Sofocleous et al , 2012, we used a green fluorescent dye, in which the incubation period can be as short as 5 min. With such procedure, the specimen can be viewed under the microscope within 30 min from the tissue collection.…”

“…In addition, very little is known about the histopathologic and intracellular changes in the surrounding liver tissue. Previous studies have examined tissues adherent to the electrode used for ablation (Sofocleous et al 2004), and processed them for Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and other cell viability and proliferation assays (Snoeren et al 2009(Snoeren et al , 2011Sofocleous et al 2008Sofocleous et al , 2012. The techniques described require tissue fixation and processing and/ or staining that cannot be completed in an expedited fashion.…”

“…Based on these findings, we postulated that YP1 could also be used in human liver tissues obtained after RFA, and would thus allow an early assessment of apoptosis leading to cellular death. In the current study, we obtained tissues adherent to the electrodes used in the RFA procedure, as previously described (Snoeren et al 2009(Snoeren et al , 2011Sofocleous et al 2004Sofocleous et al , 2008Sofocleous et al , 2011. Further, we performed needle biopsies from central and marginal regions of the ablation zone in an effort to collect additional tumor and surrounding liver tissue for analysis and to permit us to include cases with no tissues adherent to the electrode.…”