Embolisation of pulmonary radio frequency pathway–a randomised trial

Abstract

Purpose: Pneumothorax is the most common complication following a pulmonary percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and thoracic drainages are the most frequent causes of an extended hospital stay. Our main objective was to show that the use of gelatin torpedoes may significantly decrease the number of chest tube placement. Materials and methods: Seventy-three patients were prospectively included in this study and then randomised into two groups: 34 with embolisation and without 39 without embolisation. Each group was comparable for different pneumothorax risk factors. Results: There were 16 (47%) pneumothorax in Group A (“with embolisation”), which was significantly lower (p