Microwave Ablation Treatment of Liver Cancer with a 2,450-MHz Cooled-shaft Antenna: Pilot Study on Safety and Efficacy

To evaluate efficacy of microwave ablation in a primary clinical study, sixty patients (44 men, 16 women; mean age 53 years) with 96, 1-8 cm (mean 3.20 ± 0.17 cm) liver cancers were treated with 2,450-MHz internally cooled-shaft antenna. Complete ablation (CA) and local tumor progression (LTP) rates as well as complications were determined. CA rates in small (< 3.0 cm), intermediate (3.1–5.0 cm) and large (5.1–8.0 cm) liver cancers were 96.4% (54/56), 92.3% (24/26) and 78.6% (11/14), respectively. During a mean follow-up period of 17.17 ± 6.52 months, LTP occurred in five (5.21%) treated cases. There was no significant difference in the CA and LTP rates between the HCC and liver metastasis patient subgroups (P<0.05). Microwave ablation provides a reliable, efficient, and safe technique to perform hepatic tumor ablation.