Partial Resection of the Liver With Microwave Tissue Coagulator

Abstract

With microwave tissue coagulator (MTC), partial resection of the liver have been performed in 28 cases (12 hepatocellular carcinomas, 13 metastatic liver cancers and 3 cancers of the gallbladder, in which the primary and metastatic lesions were 3cm or less in diameter.The procedure of partial resection of the liver with MTC is as follows: First, a monopolar-antena is inserted around the tumor and the tissue is irradiated for 1 minute (40 seconds for coagulation and 20 seconds for dissociation). This "one minute irradiation" is repeated along the tumor border, point by point, until complete coagulation is made. Then the lesion is enucleated by sharp dissection. The vessels on the cutting surface, 1mm in diameter or larger, are ligated. This procedure does not require the exposure and blockade of hepatic vessels at the hilum.No severe postoperative complications such as bleeding were observed except the development of intra abdominal abscess in 3 cases and the leakage of bile juice in one case. MTC is a useful, safe and reliable surgical apparatus for partial resection of the liver, when a hepatic lesion is less than 3cm in diameter in the absence of the main vessels around the lesion, or when surgions are attempting to carry out resection of the liver floor for gallbladder cancer.