Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases adjacent to the gallbladder

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver metastases adjacent to the gallbladder (GB).

Materials and methods

A total of 113 patients with 118 liver lesions (63 HCC lesions and 55 liver metastases) adjacent to the gallbladder underwent RFA between March 2011 and June 2019. Gallbladder-related complications and technique effectiveness rates were evaluated based on the classification of liver tumors and the distance between the lesion and the gallbladder.

Results

Gallbladder-related complications were observed in 13 patients. Among the patients with HCC, there was no significant difference between the ≤0.5 cm and >0.5 cm groups (p = .282). However, among the patients with liver metastases, the incidence of gallbladder-related complications in the ≤0.5 cm group was significantly higher than that in the >0.5 cm group (p = .025). The overall incidence of complications was significantly higher in the ≤0.5 cm group than in the >0.5 cm group (p = .020). Among the patients with lesions ≤3 cm, the technical effectiveness rate in the HCC group was significantly higher than in the liver metastasis group (p = .036).

Conclusion

RFA is a safe and effective treatment option for liver tumors adjacent to the gallbladder. Patients with lesions ≤0.5 cm from the gallbladder had higher gallbladder-related complications, especially patients with liver metastases. Among patients with lesions ≤3 cm, RFA showed greater technical effectiveness for treating HCC than for treating liver metastases.

Keywords:

• Hepatocellular carcinoma
• liver metastases
• radiofrequency ablation
• gallbladder
• safety
• efficacy

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr. Zhao Yang for statistical assistance.

Author contributions

Yuanfeng Meng and Binbin Jiang contributed equally to the study. Kun Yan contributed to the conception and design of the study. All authors contributed to the manuscript revision and read and approved the submitted version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The approval of data and material was obtained from participants.Consent for publication Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Capital Health Research and Development of Special [grant no. 2020-2-2152].