Microwave ablation of hepatic malignant tumors using 1.5T MRI guidance and monitoring: feasibility and preliminary clinical experience

Figures & data

Figure 1. CONSORT flow diagram summarizes the patient enrollment process in this study.

Table 1. Patient characteristics.

Characteristic	Value
Age
Mean age (y)*	56.51 ± 11.36
≤60 y	22
>60 y	13
Sex
Men	32
Women	3
Diagnosis
Hepatocellular carcinoma	28
Hepatic metastasis of colonic carcinoma	4
Hepatic metastasis of rectal carcinoma	2
Hepatic metastasis of gastric carcinoma	1
Number of tumors (total 48 lesions)
1	27
2	4
3	3
4	1
Liver function (Child–Pugh grade)
Grade A	31
Grade B	4
Maximum diameter of tumors (48 lesions)
Mean size (mm)*	12.31 ± 4.72
≤10 mm	23
>10 mm ≤ 20 mm	19
>20 mm ≤ 30 mm	6

Note: Data are numbers of patients unless otherwise indicated.

*Data are mean ± standard deviation.

Figure 2. A 35-year-old man presented with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after radiofrequency ablation. (A) A nodule is seen in the left lateral lobe of the liver. The fsFRFSE T2WI sequence shows a hyperintense lesion (arrow). (B) The 3 D Dyn T1WI sequence shows a hypointense lesion.

Figure 4. 11 months after MWA, the MRI of the same patient as in Figures 2 and 3. (A) The fsFRFSE T2WI demonstrated the ablated lesion was isointense. (B) The unenhanced 3 D Dyn TIWI demonstrated the ablated lesion was hyperintense (arrow). (C) The enhanced equilibrium phase MRI displayed an unenhanced ablated lesion (arrow).