Saline-enhanced RFA meets expectations

Using saline perfusion to improve radio-frequency ablation of liver tumors is feasible and safe, but rare life-threatening complications persist, according to a study reported in the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Dr. Antonio Giorgio and colleagues at the D. Cotugno Hospital in Naples, Italy, enrolled 336 consecutive patients with liver cancer. Saline-perfused cannulated needles treated tumors with fewer major complications than the internally cooled or expandable probes. But a sudden worsening of functional liver reserve may occur with the saline regime even when only a small nodule of hepatocellular carcinoma is treated.