Intratumoral coagulation by radiofrequency ablation facilitated the laparoscopic resection of giant hepatic hemangioma: a surgical technique report of two cases.

Shaohong Wang,Shan Ke,Mengmeng Yang,Li Xu,Wenbing Sun,Jun Gao,Xuemei Ding,Jian Kong

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.18994

Abstract

BackgroundTraditionally, open hepatic resection is the first choice of treatment for symptomatic enlarging hepatic hemangiomas, which requires a large abdominal incision and is associated with substantial recovery time and morbidity. Minimally invasive laparoscopic resection has been used recently in liver surgery for treating selected hepatic hemangiomas. However, laparoscopic liver surgery poses the significant technical challenges and high rate of conversion. Radiofrequency (RF) ablation has been proved feasible in the treatment of hepatic hemangiomas with a size range of 5.0-9.9 cm. It is controversial to treat giant hepatic hemangiomas (≥10.0 cm) by means of RF ablation, due to the low technique success rate and high incidence of ablation-related complications. We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of combined laparoscopic resection with intratumoral RF-induced coagulation for giant hepatic hemangiomas.MethodsWe treated 2 patients with giant subcapsular hepatic hemangioma (12.0 cm and 13.1 cm in diameters respectively) by laparoscopic resection following intratumoral coagulation of the tumor with RF ablation.ResultsBlood loss during resection was 100 ml (case 1) and 300ml (case 2) respectively. No blood transfusion and dialysis were needed during perioperative period. The two patients were discharged 6 days (case 1) and 12 days (case 2) after surgery without any complications, respectively. Postoperative contrast-enhanced CT follow up showed there was no residual tumor.ConclusionsIt is feasible to treat giant subcapsular hepatic hemangioma by laparoscopic tumor resection boosted by intratumoral coagulation using RF ablation, which may open a new avenue for treating giant hemangioma.

Highlights

Hepatic hemangiomas are the most common benign tumors of liver, which are generally asymptomatic and do not need clinical intervention
Taking advantage of the prominent thermal coagulative effect of RF ablation on hepatic hemangiomas, we treated 2 patients with subcapsular giant hepatic hemangiomas (12.0 cm and 13.1 cm in diameters respectively) by laparoscopic resection boosted by intratumoral RF-induced coagulation in the past year
Our results show that laparoscopic resection of hemangioma boosted by intratumoral coagulation by RF ablation was feasibly used to treat giant hepatic subcapsular hemangioma with low loss of blood and negligible complications

Summary

Introduction

Hepatic hemangiomas are the most common benign tumors of liver, which are generally asymptomatic and do not need clinical intervention. Taking advantage of the prominent thermal coagulative effect of RF ablation on hepatic hemangiomas, we treated 2 patients with subcapsular giant hepatic hemangiomas (12.0 cm and 13.1 cm in diameters respectively) by laparoscopic resection boosted by intratumoral RF-induced coagulation in the past year. A sequential placement of RF electrode into the hemangioma along the resection margin was performed to achieve a complete coagulation of the tumor.

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