Seeding following percutaneous diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for hepatocellular carcinoma. What is the risk and the outcome? (original) (raw)

2007, Cancer Treatment Reviews

Background: Tumour biopsy is usually considered mandatory for patient management by oncologists. Currently percutaneous ablation is used therapeutically for cirrhotic patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), not suitable for resection or waiting for liver transplantation. However malignant seeding is a recognized complication of both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in patients with HCC. Although percutaneous therapy whether with or without biopsy of a suspected HCC nodule may minimize the risk of seeding, this has not been confirmed. Aim: To evaluate the risk of seeding, defined as new neoplastic disease occurring outside the liver capsule, either in the subcutaneous tissue or peritoneal cavity following needle biopsy and/or local ablation therapy (LAT). Methods: A literature search resulted in 179 events in 99 articles between January 1983 and February 2007: 66 seedings followed liver biopsy, 26 percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), 1 microwave, 22 radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and 64 after combined biopsy and percutaneous treatment (5 microwave; 33 PEI; 26 RFA). Results: In 41 papers specifying the total number of patients biopsied and/or treated, the median risk of seeding was 2.29% (range 0-11%) for biopsy group; 1.4% (1.