A randomised comparative trial on liver tumors treated with ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency versus microwave ablation

Objective To compare the local efficacy and safety of uhrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) versus microwave ablation (MWA) in the treatment of liver tumours.Methods 120 patients with 165 lesions were randomised into the RFA or the MWA groups (ratio 1 ∶ 1).For the RFA group,86 lesions [mean diameter (2.2 ±0.9) cm,range 1.0-5.5 cm] were treated,while 79 lesions [mean diameter (2.6 ± 1.3) cm,range 1.0-7.0 cm] were treated by MWA.Patients were followed-up one week and one month after local ablation with liver function tests,and one month post ablation with contrast-enhanced CT or MR.The local efficacy (based on modified RECIST),side effects and complication rates were assessed.Results There was no significant difference in the mean number of ablations per lesion between the RFA group (1.85 ±0.94) and the MWA group (1.87 ± 1.41) (P =0.176).The duration of treatment procedure per lesion was significantly longer in the RFA group [(20.70 ± 10.37) minutes]than in the MWA group [(13.39 ±7.40) minutes] (P ＜ 0.01).The rates of complete response (CR),partial response (PR) and progressive disease (PD) for the RFA group was 89.5％,10.5％ and 0％ respectively; while the rates of CR,PR and PD for the MWA group was 92.4％,5.1％ and 2.5％ respectively.The efficacy was 100％ for the RFA group and 97.5％ for the MWA group (P =0.912).There were no significant difference between the 2 groups by the treatment on liver function,side effect rates (6.7％ vs 11.7％ ; P =0.529) and complication rates (3.3％ vs 5.0％ ; P =0.763).Conclusion Treatment of liver tumours with either RFA or MWA produced similar efficacy and safety profile.However,MWA was significantly faster than RFA. Key words: Radiofrequency ablation;  Microwave ablation;  Liver tumour