Percutaneous Microwave Ablation of Liver Cancer Adjacent to the Gastrointestinal Tract

The purpose of the study was to prospectively evaluate safety and effectiveness of percutaneous microwave ablation under temperature monitoring assisted with ethanol injection for liver cancer abutting gastrointestinal tract. One hundred seventy-nine hepatic tumors that underwent percutaneous microwave ablation with curative intention were included. Fifty-three lesions located less than 5 mm from gastrointestinal tract were in gastrointestinal group. One hundred twenty-six lesions located more than 5 mm from hepatic surface and first or second branch of hepatic vessels were in control group. The temperature of marginal ablation tissue proximal to gastrointestinal tract was monitored and controlled to fluctuating between 45A degrees C and 58A degrees C for more than 10 min for tumors in the gastrointestinal group. Ethanol (2-27 ml) was injected into marginal tissue in 33 of 53 lesions of the GI group. Forty-seven of 53 tumors (88.7%) in the gastrointestinal group and 116 of 126 tumors (92.1%) in the control group achieved complete ablation (p > 0.05). There were neither immediate nor periprocedural complications in both groups. Tumor seeding happened in one of the gastrointestinal group and two of the control group. There was no delayed complication of bile ducts injury. Under strict temperature monitoring, microwave ablation assisted with ethanol injection is safe and achieves a high complete ablation rate for hepatic tumors adjacent to gastrointestinal tract.