Percutaneous thermal ablation for the treatment of colorectal liver metastases and hepatocellular carcinoma: a comparison of local therapeutic efficacy

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to compare the local therapeutic efficacy of percutaneous thermal ablation for colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: One hundred sixty-one CRLM nodules in 101 patients and 122 HCC nodules in 97 patients were treated with thermal ablation. Complications and local efficacy were retrospectively compared. Results: Major complications were observed in two (2.0%) patients in the CRLM group and one (1.0%) in the HCC group (p = 1.000). The complete ablation (CA) rate of lesions ≤ 3 cm was lower in the CRLM group than in the HCC group (p = 0.018). After a mean follow-up period of 21.1 ± 20.7 months in the CRLM group and 22.1 ± 17.6 months in the HCC group, the local tumour progression (LTP) rate of lesions > 3 cm was higher in the CRLM group than in the HCC group (p = 0.036). The multivariate analysis revealed that only safety margin (≤ 0.5 cm/> 0.5 cm) was a significant predictor of LTP in both CRLM and HCC. Conclusions: To achieve better local tumour control, thermal ablation should be more aggressive for CRLM than for HCC, especially for large tumours in clinical.