Microwave ablation: state-of-the-art review

Abstract

This paper reviews state-of-the-art microwave ablation (MWA) of tumors. MWA is a novel method for treating inoperable tumors, ie, tumors that cannot be treated surgically. However, patients generally choose removal of the tumor by conventional techniques. A literature review of MWA for breast, liver, lung, and kidney tumors is reported here, with tabulation of our findings according to the type of technique used, with a detailed description of the time, type of microwave generator used, and number of patients treated with MWA. In some cases, the subjects were not human patients, but pig or bovine liver specimens. MWA is a technique that has proved to be promising and likely to be used increasingly in the ablation of cancerous tumors. However, MWA needs to be used more widely to establish itself as a common tool in the treatment of inoperable tumors.

Effect of thermal dose on heat shock protein expression after radio-frequency ablation with and without adjuvant nanoparticle chemotherapies

“…At pathology, tissue changes from high-temperature ablation have been grossly divided into a central ‘white’ zone of immediately coagulated tissue and a periablational ‘red zone’ of reactive inflammation [28]. Currently, all ablation application algorithms have largely prioritized obtaining the most completely uniform ‘white zone’ in a clinically efficient manner (i.e., ablating the desired target volume in the shortest amount of time) or achieving a specific ablation geometry (i.e., spherical ablation volume) [29,30,31]. However, there is now greater appreciation of the various secondary reactions that occur in the periablational rim exposed to non-lethal hyperthermic injury, with increases in protective heat shock protein expression, microvascular permeability, growth factor production, and reactive oxygen species, reported [32].…”

TACE-Sorafenib With Thermal Ablation Has Survival Benefits in Patients With Huge Unresectable Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…In addition, TACE increases VEGF levels, and VEGF is known to stimulate tumor angiogenesis, thereby contributing to tumor invasion and metastasis (Sergio et al, 2008;Shim et al, 2008). Thermal ablation therapies such as radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) have been shown to be safe and effective for local control in patients with HCC (Lee et al, 2014;Hernandez et al, 2015). For early-stage HCC, thermal ablation has been shown to have similar OS compared with surgical resection (Lee et al, 2014;Hernandez et al, 2015).…”

Computational FEM Model,PhantomandEx VivoSwine Breast Validation of an Optimized Double-Slot Microcoaxial Antenna Designed for Minimally Invasive Breast Tumor Ablation: Theoretical and Experimental Comparison of Temperature, Size of Lesion, and SWR, Preliminary Data

“…Ablation using microwave energy is an encouraging method because it can heat breast carcinoma (high water content tissue) more than adipose or breast glandular healthy tissue (low water content tissue); additionally, it can be used to treat patients that are not candidates for surgery like anesthetic risk. MWA presents advantages over other therapies [ 4 – 6 ] which make it more attractive to treat breast tumors; however, it is important to mention that to the best of our knowledge there is only one reported clinical trial of breast cancer treatment that uses MWA in literature [ 7 ]. Some of the benefits of MWA are an improved convection profile, higher constant intratumoral temperatures, faster ablation times, and the possibility of using multiple probes to treat multiple lesions simultaneously.…”