Efficacy and safety of TACE combined with microwave ablation for the treatment of subphrenic hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE) combined with microwave ablation for the treatment of subphrenic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Twenty-nine patients with subphrenic HCC in hospital were enrolled in this study. TACE were performed firstly, and then patients were treated with liver protection therapy. After 1-2 weeks, subcutaneous microwave ablation were performed when the liver function was normal. The examinations of contrast-enhanced CT or MRI were performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy 3-4 weeks later. Results There were no serious complications such as liver failure after TACE among the 29 patients. After microwave ablation, 3 patients had small amount of hemorrhage under the liver capsule, 2 patients had small amount of liquid pneumothorax, 1 patient had a large amount of pneumothorax. A total of 26 patients (89.7%) were evaluated as complete ablation, and 3 patients (10.3%) were evaluated as incomplete ablation. Conclusions TACE combined with microwave ablation is effective on subphrenic HCC. However, microwave ablation is easy to damage the diaphragm and lung tissue when the tumor is adjacent to the diaphragm and lung. Thus, microwave ablation can be taken under the artificial subphrenic ascites method to improve the safety of surgery. Key words: Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization; Microwave ablation; Subphrenic liver cancer; Safety; Efficacy