"Approach to Hepatic Tumor Ablation: Choosing the Right Tool for the Job"

Treatment options for hepatic tumors have evolved over the last 30 years from solely surgical approaches to include numerous minimally invasive approaches, many with excellent outcomes ( 1 Gillams A. Goldberg N. Ahmed M. et al. Thermal ablation of colorectal liver metastases: a position paper by an international panel of ablation experts, The Interventional Oncology Sans Frontières meeting 2013. Eur Radiol. 2015 Dec; 25 (Epub 2015 May 22. PMID: 25994193; PMCID: PMC4636513): 3438-3454https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3779-z Crossref PubMed Scopus (231) Google Scholar ). Among these options are percutaneous ablation techniques, of which two have found favor, Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) and Microwave ablation (MWA) ( 2 Lubner M.G. Brace C.L. Hinshaw J.L. Lee Jr., F.T. Microwave tumor ablation: mechanism of action, clinical results, and devices. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2010 Aug; 21 (PMID: 20656229; PMCID: PMC3065977.): S192-S203https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2010.04.007 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (550) Google Scholar ). The article "Complication rates and risk of recurrence after percutaneous radio-frequency ablation and microwave ablation for the treatment of liver tumors: a meta-analysis" by Alhasan et al provides a notable contribution to the existing literature ( 3 Alhasan A.S. Daqqaq T.S. Alhasan M.S. Ghunaim H.A. Aboualkheir M. Complication rates and risk of recurrence after percutaneous radiofrequency ablation and microwave ablation for the treatment of liver tumors: a meta-analysis. Acad Radiol. 2023; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2023.11.005 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar ). Their meta-analysis compares outcomes data for the potential complications of RFA an MWA, offering valuable insight into their respective risks and benefits. This article opens avenues for future research to answer some of the question these authors pose.