Radiofrequency Ablation Parameters Correlate With Survival of Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

SignificanceNoticeably the response of HCC tumors with RF heating are varied: some would ablate with shorter time at lower temperatures and others would ablate with longer time at higher temperatures. The objective of this study is to determine the correlation between radiofrequency ablation parameters with survival.MethodologyThis is a retrospective case-control study. Clinical, laboratory and intraprocedure RFA parameters were collected from charts of HCC patients who underwent RFA from January 2009 to June 2013. The patients were arbitrarily grouped as either having “presumed soft HCC tumor” if the highest RF temperature achieved is <60oC and the time to first ablation is <5 minutes, or “presumed hard HCC tumor” if any of the two criteria were not satisfied. Statistical analysis was done for survival functions between “presumed soft HCC tumor” versus “presumed hard HCC tumor” using Kaplan-Meier method.ResultsThere were 88 tumors from 55 patients included in the study analysis. Patients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have a better survival than those with “presumed hard HCC tumor” (60.63% vs 51.86%) with p-value: 0.011. Low AFP level, lack of significant alcohol intake, absence of portal vein thrombus and a single tumor favor survival.ConclusionPatients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have higher survival. RFA can be both therapeutic and prognostic in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. SignificanceNoticeably the response of HCC tumors with RF heating are varied: some would ablate with shorter time at lower temperatures and others would ablate with longer time at higher temperatures. The objective of this study is to determine the correlation between radiofrequency ablation parameters with survival. Noticeably the response of HCC tumors with RF heating are varied: some would ablate with shorter time at lower temperatures and others would ablate with longer time at higher temperatures. The objective of this study is to determine the correlation between radiofrequency ablation parameters with survival. MethodologyThis is a retrospective case-control study. Clinical, laboratory and intraprocedure RFA parameters were collected from charts of HCC patients who underwent RFA from January 2009 to June 2013. The patients were arbitrarily grouped as either having “presumed soft HCC tumor” if the highest RF temperature achieved is <60oC and the time to first ablation is <5 minutes, or “presumed hard HCC tumor” if any of the two criteria were not satisfied. Statistical analysis was done for survival functions between “presumed soft HCC tumor” versus “presumed hard HCC tumor” using Kaplan-Meier method. This is a retrospective case-control study. Clinical, laboratory and intraprocedure RFA parameters were collected from charts of HCC patients who underwent RFA from January 2009 to June 2013. The patients were arbitrarily grouped as either having “presumed soft HCC tumor” if the highest RF temperature achieved is <60oC and the time to first ablation is <5 minutes, or “presumed hard HCC tumor” if any of the two criteria were not satisfied. Statistical analysis was done for survival functions between “presumed soft HCC tumor” versus “presumed hard HCC tumor” using Kaplan-Meier method. ResultsThere were 88 tumors from 55 patients included in the study analysis. Patients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have a better survival than those with “presumed hard HCC tumor” (60.63% vs 51.86%) with p-value: 0.011. Low AFP level, lack of significant alcohol intake, absence of portal vein thrombus and a single tumor favor survival. There were 88 tumors from 55 patients included in the study analysis. Patients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have a better survival than those with “presumed hard HCC tumor” (60.63% vs 51.86%) with p-value: 0.011. Low AFP level, lack of significant alcohol intake, absence of portal vein thrombus and a single tumor favor survival. ConclusionPatients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have higher survival. RFA can be both therapeutic and prognostic in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Patients with “presumed soft HCC tumor” have higher survival. RFA can be both therapeutic and prognostic in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.