Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases adjacent to the gallbladder.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of ultrasound-guided percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver metastases adjacent to the gallbladder (GB).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 113 patients with 118 liver lesions (63 HCC lesions and 55 liver metastases) adjacent to the gallbladder underwent RFA between March 2011 and June 2019. Gallbladder-related complications and technique effectiveness rates were evaluated based on the classification of liver tumors and the distance between the lesion and the gallbladder.

RESULTS: Gallbladder-related complications were observed in 13 patients. Among the patients with HCC, there was no significant difference between the ≤0.5 cm and >0.5 cm groups ( p  = .282). However, among the patients with liver metastases, the incidence of gallbladder-related complications in the ≤0.5 cm group was significantly higher than that in the >0.5 cm group ( p  = .025). The overall incidence of complications was significantly higher in the ≤0.5 cm group than in the >0.5 cm group ( p  = .020). Among the patients with lesions ≤3 cm, the technical effectiveness rate in the HCC group was significantly higher than in the liver metastasis group ( p  = .036).

CONCLUSION: RFA is a safe and effective treatment option for liver tumors adjacent to the gallbladder. Patients with lesions ≤0.5 cm from the gallbladder had higher gallbladder-related complications, especially patients with liver metastases. Among patients with lesions ≤3 cm, RFA showed greater technical effectiveness for treating HCC than for treating liver metastases.