In most of the cases the radiologist chooses the more patient friendly percutaneous entry which means a needle is inserted through the skin at the level where the therapy is to be done. The advantage of this method is that it is associated with little complications and that only a local anaesthesia is required.
After administration of local anaesthesia a small incision of about 2 mm is made. Simultaneously the patient is given a light sedative intravenously. Under CT-guidance the needle is slowly pushed forward to the region of interest which is then followed by radiofrequency ablation; heating of tumor cells. In case of tumor recurrence the radiofrequency ablation can be repeated.

How does the therapy take?

The treatment takes about 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on the number and location of the tumors.

How is the success of therapy checked?

A regular follow-up is done in form of CT or MRI examinations every three months to make sure that the whole tumor tissue has been destroyed. In this process reemergence of new tumors can be detected and treated again.

Document Date: unknown   Author: Ahmed Koujan