| Theme |
Diversified Modalities of Liver Metastasis Treatment |
| Title |
Radiofrequency Ablation for Metastatic Liver Cancer |
| Author |
Shuichiro Shiina |
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| Author |
Takahisa Sato |
Kyoundo Hospital |
| Author |
Yuji Kondo |
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| Author |
Ryosuke Tateishi |
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| Author |
Tadashi Goto |
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| Author |
Kazuhiko Koike |
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo |
| [ Summary ] |
Only 10-30 % of patients with metastatic liver cancer are candidates for surgical resection. Even after curative resection, recurrences frequently develop. A considerable number of patients decline surgery. In our department, we have implemented multidisciplinary treatment using radiofrequency ablation (RFA) as a major treatment for metastatic liver cancer. We performed RFA on 151 patients with colorectal liver metastasis. Many of the patients had unfavorable conditions, such as being elderly (11 % ≥ 81 years old), chemotherapy failure, cancer recurrences after hepatic resection, coexistence of extrahepatic lesions, multiple lesions (≥ 10), and cardiopulmonary comorbidities. However, survival rates were 92.5 %, 60.2 %, 37.9 %, 27.2 %, and 23.8 %, at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years, respectively. These results are comparable to those of surgical resection, in spite of the fact that many patients treated by RFA were ineligible for surgery. RFA was a generally safe procedure. Treatment strategy to find any recurrences at an early stage and to perform minimally invasive treatments iteratively appears to be useful even for metastatic liver cancer. RFA should be considered as a treatment of choice for selected patients with metastatic liver cancer. |