Perioperative outcome after laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors: an analysis of 521 cases

Radiofrequency thermal ablation (RFA) is gaining increased acceptance for the treatment of unresectable primary and metastatic liver tumors. Understanding the morbidity and laboratory changes after RFA is important for operative indications and perioperative management.

The authors prospectively analyzed the 30-day morbidity and mortality rates of patients undergoing laparoscopic RFA for liver tumors in a 10-year period. Laboratory studies included a complete blood count, electrolytes, liver function tests, prothrombin time/international normalized ratio (INR), and tumor markers obtained preoperatively, on postoperative days (PODs) 1 and 7, then at 3 months.

A total of 521 RFA procedures were performed for 428 patients (286 men and 142 women) with a mean age of 61 years (range, 25–89 years). A total of 346 patients underwent a single operation, and 82 patients had two or more operations. The pathology was metastatic colon cancer for 244 patients (47%), hepatocellular cancer for 109 patients (21%), metastatic neuroendocrine cancer for 74 patients (14%), and other noncolorectal, nonneuroendocrine liver metastasis for 94 patients (18%). A total of 1,636 lesions (mean, 3.1 per patient; range, 1–16) were ablated. The mean tumor size was 2.7 ± 1.6 cm (range, 0.3–11.5 cm). All cases were managed laparoscopically. The 30-day mortality rate was 0.4% (n = 2), and the morbidity rate was 3.8 % (n = 20). The average length of hospital stay was 1 day for RFA-only cases and 2.1 days when another surgical procedure was combined with RFA. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) increased 14-fold, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) increased 10-fold, and bilirubin levels increased 2-fold on POD 1, with return to baseline in 3 months. Serum alkaline phosphatase and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) levels showed a 25% increase on POD 7, with return to baseline in 3 months. There were no significant changes in platelet counts or prothrombin times postoperatively.

This large series provides valuable insight into the perioperative period and allows the expected morbidity of the procedure to be understood. Despite significant patient comorbidities, this procedure was tolerated with low morbidity and mortality rates. Postoperative coagulopathy was not observed. A postoperative rise in liver function tests is expected, reflecting the liver injury response to RFA. This information can be used to expand the patient population that may benefit from laparoscopic RFA.