The What, the Why, and the How of Liver Ablations: A Practical Guide for the Medical Oncologist

Abstract

Interventional oncology plays a major role within modern oncological patient management. Image-guided thermal ablation has been recognized as a successful local therapeutic option in patients with primary and secondary malignant liver diseases, as also recalled by the recent European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines on colorectal metastases. As image-guided treatments may be as effective as surgery in selected patients with liver lesions, the clinical oncologist should be familiar with the indications, risks, and technical aspects of liver ablation in order to provide their patients with the best outcomes. This article provides a broad overview of the most commonly used ablation techniques and highlights the most relevant technical aspects such as the ideal setting in the operating theatre; which image-guided methods are available, including the growing application of fusion imaging; or contrast-enhanced ultrasound for guiding/monitoring the procedure. A further aim is to expand the knowledge among medical oncologists about liver ablation procedures and to provide insights into the future perspectives of percutaneous minimally invasive procedures in the liver.

Development and preclinical evaluation of multifunctional hydrogel for precise thermal protection during thermal ablation

“…Image-guided thermal ablation (TA) has been increasingly applied for treating benign and malignant tumors in a wide range of organs [ 1 , 2 ], including the liver [ 3 , 4 ], lung [ 5 , 6 ], kidney [ 7 ], bone [ 8 ], thyroid [ 9 , 10 ], adrenal [ 11 , 12 ], and soft tissue [ 13 , 14 ]. TA produces high temperatures locally to induce irreversible cell injury, ultimately tumor apoptosis, and coagulative necrosis [ 2 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on therapeutic interventional oncology procedures and diagnostic CT/MRI examinations at a German university hospital

“…Interventional radiology (IR) plays an important role in the treatment of oncological patients, especially in patients with hepatic tumors, but increasingly also in pulmonary and renal lesions [15][16][17][18][19]. Interventional oncology as a therapeutic option for oncological patients is of particular interest during times of added strain on resource-intensive areas like surgery.…”