The safety and efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of liver tumors are widely recognized.However,for refractory liver cancer,RFA treatment had more difficulties and risks.Focusing on standardized operation under imaging guidance and individualized treatment,relatively good efficacy and safety can also be achieved in patients with refractory liver cancer.

Objective To investigate the value of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in the treatment of large hepatic carcinoma adjacent to diaphragm.Methods Totally 176 patients with larger hepatic carcinoma adjacent to diaphragm (adjacent diaphragm group) and 157 patients with larger hepatic carcinoma not adjacent to the diaphragm (control group) underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous RFA treatment,and the data of these patients were retrospectively analyzed.The patients,age,gender,the largest diameter of lesions,ablation information,early necrosis rate,recurrence rate,new tumor rate and survival rate were analyzed and compared between the two groups.Results Cases of injection physiological saline below the diaphragm during RFA were significantly higher in adjacent diaphragm group than that in control group (P=0.016).The recurrence rate of adjacent diaphragm group was significantly higher than that of control group (P=0.028).There was no significant difference of patients,age,gender,the largest diameter of lesion,RFA instrument,RFA needles,early necrosis rate,new tumor rate,nor complications rate between the two groups (all P＞0.05).There was no significant difference of the 1-,2-,3-,4-and 5-year survival rate between the two groups (P=0.203).Conclusion Large hepatic carcinoma adjacent to diaphragm is more likely to recur after ultrasound-guided percutaneous RFA.The method of injection physiological saline below diaphragm and other individualized treatment plan and strategy should be used during RFA treatment.

Objective To analyze Glisson system-related complications after percutaneous thermal ablation of liver cancer and the relationship with tumor location.Methods Data of 2 218 case-times of ultrasound-guided percutaneous thermal ablation in 1 879 patients with liver cancer were retrospectively analyzed.Four types were defined according to the relative position between the tumor and Glisson system:Tumor close to the first branch of the portal vein (type Ⅰ),the second branch of the portal vein (type Ⅱ),the third branch of the portal vein (type Ⅲ) and far away from portal vein (type Ⅳ).Types Ⅰ to Ⅲ were classified as close to Glisson system group,while type Ⅳ was classified as far away from Glisson system group.The Glisson system-related complications (cholesteatoma,bile leakage,serious biliary stricture,cholangiobronchial fistula,arterio-venous fistula and arterial aneurysm) were analyzed.Results Glisson system-related severe complications occurred after 20 case-times (20/2 218,0.90 ％) of thermal ablation.The incidence of Glisson system-related severe complications in close to Glisson system group (1.81 ％ [16/886]) was higher than that in far away from Glisson system group (0.30％ [4/1 332],P＜0.001).The incidence of Glisson system-related severe complications of type Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ was 6.35％ (4/63),3.52％ (5/142),1.03％ (7/681) and0.30％ (4/1 332),respectively (P＜0.001).Glisson system-related mild complications included liver function damage (280 case-times),portal thrombosis (156 case-times) and slight cholangiectasis (82 case-times).The incidences of the three Glisson system-related complications mentioned above decreased from type Ⅰ to Ⅳ.Conclusion Percutaneous thermal ablation is safe in treating patients with tumors close to Glisson system.But the risk of incidence of Glisson system-related severe complications is higher when the tumor is close to the more advanced branch of portal vein.

Objective To investigate the efficacy and prognostic factors of percutaneous ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for liver metastases from gastric cancer.Methods Clinical and imaging data of 55 patients with liver metastasis from gastric cancer who underwent percutenous ultrasound-guided RFA were retrospectively analyzed,and the overall survival rates and prognostic factors were assessed.Results The overall survival rates of 1-,2-,3-and 5-year was 70.45％,42.90％,20.32％ and 10.16％,respectively.The ablation rate was 94.12％ (96/102) 1 month after RFA,and the local recurrent rate was 15.69％ (16/102),the new metastasis rate was 52.73％ (29/55).Age (P=0.015),tumor number (P=0.011),extrahepatic metastasis before RFA (P=0.026) and chemotherapy after RFA (P=0.031) were significantly prognostic factors.Age (P=0.033),tumor number (P=0.004) as well as chemotherapy after RFA (P=0.001) were independent prognostic factors.The severe complication rate was 1.82％ (1/55),while no treatment-related death occurred.Conclusion Percutaneous ultrasound-guided RFA is a safe and effective therapeutic option for liver metastases from gastric cancer.Age,tumor number,chemotherapy after RFA are independent prognostic factors.

Objective To investigate the application value of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in treatment of liver metastases of malignant tumor.Methods Clinical and imaging data of 109 patients with liver metastases of malignant tumor who underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous RFA during December 2009 to May 2015 were retrospectively analyzed.Results There were 31 patients (31/109,28.44％) with single liver metastases and 78 patients (78/109,71.56％) with multiple lesions.The primary tumors included colorectal,lung,breast,gastric,pancreatic,ovarian and prostate carcinomas.Among all 198 liver metastases,there were 151 (151/198,76.26％) with diameter ＜ 3 cm and 47 (47/198,23.74％) with diameter ≥3 cm.One month after RFA,187 lesions (187/198,94.44％) were completely inactivated,while the other 11 lesions (11/198,5.56％) still had residual activity.One month later,the tumor markers improved obviously compared with those before treatment (all P＜0.05).The incidence of intraoperative and postoperative complications was 6.42％ (7/109).Conclusion Ultrasound-guided percutaneous RFA is a safe and effective treatment for patients with non-surgical indications of malignant liver metastases,which can partially control the survival activity of liver metastases.

Objective To investigate the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) combined with extracting blood from hemangiomas guided with CEUS for treating hepatic cavernous hemangiomas (HCH).Methods Data of 55 patients with 77 lesions of HCH underwent CEUS guided RFA combined with extracting blood from hemangiomas during January 2010 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.Conventional ultrasound and CEUS were performed before therapy,in order to obtain the size and blood supply information of lesions,also performed immediately after treatment and 3 months later to calculate the volume of hemangiomas and the rate of hemangiomas after the treatment,as well as the rate of non-blood supply 3 months after the treatment.Then statistical analysis was done.Results The mean operation time was (31.53±15.89)min,and the blood extracting from hemangiomas was (135.36± 68.13)ml.There was positive correlation between the volume of hemangiomas before treatment and the blood extracting from hemangiomas (r=0.722,P＜0.05).No serious complication occurred among 55 cases,while mild complications happened in 9 cases (9/55,16.36 ％).The volume of hemangiomas decreased immediately and 3 months after treatment (both P＜0.05),and the rate of hemangiomas reducing was (48.76±32.58) ％ and (22.37±35.73) ％,respectively.The rate of non-blood supply 3 months after treatment was 96.10％ (74/77).Conclusion CEUS-guided RFA combined with extracting blood from hemangiomas is an effective and safe method,which has potential to become a first-line therapy.

Objective To investigate the incidence and risk factors of liver abscess after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for liver cancer.Methods A retrospective study was performed on 1 643 patients from January 2000 to June 2016.All the patients were diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC,n =942),cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC,n =31) or metastatic liver carcinoma (MLC,n=670).Univariate and multiple Logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate the risk factors of liver abscess.Results The incidence of liver abscess after RFA was 0.79％％ (13/1 643).Univariate analysis indicated that the liver abscess was significantly correlated with the history of diabetic mellitus (DM),Child-Pugh level,history of surgery and tumor location (all P＜0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that the history of DM,history of surgery and tumor location were independent risk factors of liver abscess after RFA for liver cancer.Conclusion History of DM,surgery and tumor location are important factors that result in liver abscess after RFA.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) in treatment of patients with liver cancer.Methods Totally 20 patients with liver cancer undergoing DEB-TACE treatment were enrolled.Clinical efficacy included complete response (CR),partial response (PR),stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD).The overall response rate (ORR) was defined as proportion of patients achieved CR and PR.Results After treatment of DEB-TACE,the ORR,CR,PR,SD,and PD of patients were 80.00％ (16/20),40.00％ (8/20),40.00％ (8/20),15.00％ (3/20),and 5.00％ (1/20),respectively;while for single tumor nodule,the ORR,CR,PR,SD,and PD were 81.58％ (31/32),50.00 (19/38)％,31.58％ (12/38),15.79％ (6/38),and 2.63％ (1/38),respectively.After the treatment of DEB-TACE,the relapse free survival rate in half year was 85.00％,and the overall survival rate was 95.00％.The adverse events of patients were mild pain,fever,nausea and vomiting.Conclusion CalliSpheres(R) DEB-TACE is an effective and well tolerated treatment in liver cancer patients.

Objective To evaluate the necessity of prophylactic uterine artery embolization (UAE) before curettage in treatment of cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP).Methods A total of 142 patients with CSP were enrolled and divided into 3 groups according to Adler grading standard,including little vascularity (grade 0-Ⅰ,n=40),moderate vascularity (grade Ⅱ,n=41) and rich vascularity groups (grade Ⅲ,n=61).All patients were treated with curettage or prophylactic UAE before curettage.The differences of age,times of cesarean section,time to last cesarean section,intraoperative blood loss and success rate of therapy were compared between different treatment methods in each group.Results There was no statistical difference of age,times of cesarean section,time to last cesarean section,intraoperative blood loss and success rate of therapy between curettage and prophylactic UAE before curettage in little vascularity group and moderate vascularity group (all P＞0.05).Compared with curettage,the success rate of prophylactic UAE before curettage was higher and the intraoperative blood loss was lower in rich vascularity group (both P＜0.05).There was no statistical difference of age,times of cesarean section nor time to last cesarean section in rich vascularity group (all P＞0.05).Conclusion It is necessary to perform prophylactic UAE before curettage for cesarean scar pregnancy patient with rich vascularity,which is helpful to reduction of intraoperative blood loss.

Integrated PET/MR has many advantages,including functional imaging of PET,precise positioning and multiparameter imaging of MR.With the improvement of image reconstruction,attenuation correction and artifact control technology,the scanning time of PET/MR has further shortened,the radiation dose has further reduced,and the application in clinical and scientific research field has further broadened.The application progresses of integrated PET/MR were reviewed in this article.