Efficacy and feasibility of radiofrequency ablation for decompensated cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Background Most HCC patients with decompensation of liver function lost the chance of surgical and/or interventional treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate feasibility and outcome of radiofrequency ablation （RFA） in treating hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） patients with poor liver function （Child-Pugh class C）, who are not suitable for surgery or hepatic artery chemo-embolization.Methods Thirteen HCC patients （the number of tumors was 17） with liver function of Child-Pugh C （scores： 10.2±0.4）were included in the study. Among the patients, 8 were male and 5 were female with the average age of （61.6±10.9）years old. The average size of HCC was （3.8±1.0） cm. Two patients were recurrent HCC and 30.8% of the patients had multiple tumors （2-3 tumors）. All the patients were treated with RFA.Results There were 22 RFA sessions （1-4 sessions per patient） in all, average ablations per tumor at first session was 3.1. One week after RFA, the liver enzymes elevated in 9 patients （69.2%）, in 7 of them, the liver enzyme returned to pre-RFA level in 1-3 months. One month after RFA, the Child-Pugh grading was 10.3±0.8 （Child-Pugh C）, while that of pre-RFA was 10.2±0.4 （Child-Pugh C）, with no significant difference. Computer tomography （CT） one month after RFA showed that the tumor necrosis rate was 88.2% （15/17）. Five patients had 2-4 repeated RFA due to HCC recurrence.During the follow-up of 2-69 months in this group, survival rate of one year was 53.8%, two years was 30.8%, and three year was 15.4%. The incidence of RFA-related complications was 13.6% （3/22 sessions）, including 1 case of GI hemorrhage and 1 sub-capsular hemorrhage of the liver. One patient with HCC over 5 cm who had fever and liver abscess after RFA, and was dead 2 months later due to liver function failure.Conclusions Minimal invasive RFA provides possible treatment modality for HCC patients with poor liver function, who are not candidates for surgical and/or interventional therapy. For large HCC, due to the required extended treatment region, special attention should be paid to the possibility of acute liver failure.