Microwave tumors ablation: Principles, clinical applications and review of preliminary experiences

Abstract

Local ablative techniques have been developed to enable local control of unresectable tumors. Ablation has been performed with several modalities including ethanol ablation, laser ablation, cryoablation, and radiofrequency ablation. Microwave technology is a new thermal ablation technique for different types of tumors, providing all the benefits of radiofrequency and substantial advantages. Microwave ablation has been applied to liver, lung, kidney and more rarely to bone, pancreas and adrenal glands. Preliminary works show that microwave ablation may be a viable alternative to other ablation techniques in selected patients. However further studies are necessary to confirm short- and long-term effectiveness of the methods and to compare it with other ablative techniques, especially RF.

Patient selection - clinical and imaging criteria - for percutaneous lung malignancies ablation: a single centre experience and a literature review

“…In the follow-up of another studies of our Centre, patients who deceased had the progression of neoplastic disease as the cause of death, and not their poor clinical conditions, confirming this study decision to refer these patients to thermo ablative treatment [18]. Of the 24 studies analyzed, 20 [13,21,[27][28][29]31,33-37,42,43,46,48,50-54] reported patients with lung metastases, and most of them, as in our study, had origin from the colon: 17 of our patients had lung metastases (11 lesions originated from colon cancer).…”

“…From that moment on, it has been possible to perform thermal ablations in lesions with <1cm from vessels >3mm (9 cases), proximity of >1cm to heart and subclavians (1 case), and ablation of lesions with >30 mm of diameter (8 cases) (Tables 1A,1B and 2). The results regarding the Literature Review are specified on Since this study involves only thermal ablations indications, data about efficacy, safety, follow-up and complications is fully tackled in another studies of the group both, for RFA [18,22,23] and also for MWA [24].The recent MWA study has very promising results, in which MWA appears to be even better than RFA [24].…”

“…In our Centre, a INR>1.5 and platelet count <35,000/mL had excluded patients as candidates for thermal ablation. A lack of attention to haematological index can more likely lead to peri-lesional hemorrhage and other complications that could be lethal [18].…”

“…The latest advancements in minimally invasive treatment for lung cancer are the MWA, which offer many of the RF benefits associated with theoretical advantages [17]. Despite the growing use of these techniques, it is still necessary to establish a clear and coherent criteria for patients selection to achieve a better definition of these therapies role [18,19,20,21]. The aim of this study is to settle the most important clinical and radiological selection criteria for radiofrequency and microwave percutaneous ablation in patients with pulmonary tumours.…”

Percutaneous ablation of malignant thoracic tumors

“…MWA would therefore be an ideal technique in case of lesion that is more than 4 cm in diameter, in contact with vessels larger than 3 mm in diameter, in patients with limited respiratory function, or in case of recurrence after thermal ablation performed by another type of energy (18).…”