Major complications after radiofrequency ablation for liver tumors: Analysis of 255 patients

Table 1 Characteristics of patients, tumors and treatment approach (mean ± SD)

Patients and tumor characteristics	Value
No. of patients	255
Median age (yr)	56.0 ± 13.2 (range, 18-89)
Gender (male/female)	205/50
Disease (HCC/MHC/CCC)	212/39/4
Background liver disease (HBV/HCV/no infection)	168/5/82
Patients with liver cirrhosis n (%)	172 (67.5)
Portal vein invasion (no/yes)	25/230
Alphafetoprotein (0-5/5-400/> 400 ng/mL)	88/92/75
Child-Pugh classification (A/B/C)	231/22/2
ALT (U/L)	47.6 ± 2.5
AST (U/L)	54.7 ± 3.0
Total bilirubin (umol/L)	27.4 ± 7.1
Serum albumin (g/L)	38.9 ± 0.3
Tumor stage	425
Number of tumors (uninodular/multinodular)	148/107
Size of tumor (cm)	5.1 ± 3.4 (range, 1.3- 20)
Diagnosis (histopathologic/clinical)	215/210
Treatment	350
Choice of approach (percutaneous/ laparoscopy/laparotomy)	257/7/86
Combination with TACE or PEI (+/-)	61/194

Table 2 Major complications after radiofrequency ablation

Complication	No. of complications	Disease
Hepatic failure	13	HCCs
Thoracic complications	10	8 HCCs, 1 CCC, 1 MHC
Tumor seeding	3	HCCs
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding	1	HCC
Intrahepatic abscess	1	HCC
Bile duct injury	1	HCC
Cardiac complication	1	HCC
Hyperglycemia	5	HCCs