Laparoscopic ultrasound with radiofrequency ablation in cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: technique and technical considerations.

The optimal treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is surgical resection. However, only a small percentage of patients are operative candidates. CT-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been shown to be efficacious in treatment of unresectable HCC. CT-guided RFA, however, may fail to detect small intrahepatic metastases and tumor thrombi, which thus minimizes possible gains from the procedure. Recent advances in laparoscopic ultrasound have greatly improved the accuracy in detecting intrahepatic HCC metastases many of which were missed by CT. Combining intraoperative laparoscopic ultrasound with laparoscopic RFA greatly utilizes advances in both fields and is technically feasible. Our objective is to introduce a novel operative combination of laparoscopic ultrasound with laparoscopic RFA in treatment of HCC. Childs class B patients with unresectable HCC were considered for this study. Twelve patients underwent laparoscopic ultrasound and RFA of 17 lesions. Tumors ranged from 0.27 to 7 cm in diameter. Laparoscopic ultrasound identified tumor not detected preoperatively in one patient (8.3%). A single pneumothorax was the only complication. A single patient (8.3%) had recurrent disease and accounted for the only mortality in the study. We conclude that the use of both laparoscopic ultrasound and RFA is an excellent use of existing technology. The procedure combines improved tumor localization with the means to treat patients with unresectable disease. Because RFA is a relatively recent development long-term results are not yet available. Randomized prospective studies comparing RFA with other modalities will determine the ultimate utility of this procedure.