Background: The incidence of primary liver tumors is rising. Modern minimally invasive, image-guided procedures offer a potentially curative therapy option.
Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the multitude of image-guided minimally invasive procedures concerning their evidence-based effect on local tumor control and overall survival.
Material and methods: A systematic search of MEDLINE focused on hepatocellular cancer, minimally invasive treatment, local ablative therapy, therapeutic stratification and comparative studies was performed.
Results: The level of evidence varied greatly depending on the procedure used. The highest quality evidence including prospective randomized studies was found for radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of hepatocellular cancer. The RFA is superior with respect to local tumor control and overall survival in comparison to other ablative procedures. Prospective randomized studies comparing surgery and RFA showed diverging and contradictory results. Microwave ablation and robotic stereotactic irradiation showed sufficient potential in retrospective studies in comparison to RFA and surgery in order to confirm the techniques in randomized studies. There is only anecdotal evidence concerning high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and irreversible electroporation. Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), cryoablation and laser-induced thermal therapy (LITT) were inferior techniques to RFA in most studies.
Conclusion: Minimally invasive resection and local ablative therapies based on structured imaging and image reporting can improve the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular cancer even in patients that exceed the BCLC 0/A stage.
Keywords: Hepatocellular cancer; Laparoscopic liver resection; Local ablative therapy; Radiofrequency ablation; Structured reporting.