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Radiofrequency Ablation of Hepatic Metastasis

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Image-Guided Cancer Therapy

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Abstract

Treatment of metastatic liver disease is a commonly encountered problem in oncologic practice. Numerous studies, particularly in the treatment of colorectal hepatic metastasis, have demonstrated that resection of isolated hepatic metastasis can improve survival compared with conventional chemotherapy alone. These observations have led to the basis for obtaining local treatment of isolated hepatic metastasis. Although surgical treatment of isolated hepatic metastatic disease generally remains the gold standard, other minimally invasive treatment options including ablative therapies have evolved and have been used to treat patients who are not surgical candidates. Many retrospective and observational series suggest that local ablation of isolated liver metastasis provides a survival benefit compared to conventional chemotherapy alone and these therapies have rapidly been incorporated into clinical practice. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) remains the most widely studied and used ablation technology in the liver worldwide. Patient selection is critical and is often carried out in a multidisciplinary forum. The majority of clinical experience and literature regarding ablation of metastatic liver disease is with colorectal liver metastasis, although there is increasing experience with larger populations of patients with breast cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. Clinical efficacy with various tumor types, considerations regarding patient selection, imaging follow-up, patterns of recurrence, and complications are reviewed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University of Colorado, Denver, 12401 E. 17th Ave., MS L954, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Rajan K. Gupta & Gerald Dodd III

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  1. Rajan K. Gupta
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  2. Gerald Dodd III
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Correspondence to Rajan K. Gupta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Department of Diagnostic Imaging Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

    Damian E. Dupuy

  2. Department of Surgery and Radiology Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA

    Yuman Fong

  3. McMullen Consulting, LLC, Surprise, Arizona, USA

    William N. McMullen

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Gupta, R.K., Dodd, G. (2013). Radiofrequency Ablation of Hepatic Metastasis. In: Dupuy, D., Fong, Y., McMullen, W. (eds) Image-Guided Cancer Therapy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0751-6_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0751-6_28

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