Microwave Ablation in the Thermal Treatment of Hepactocellular Carcinoma: Case Report

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) stands as one of the most prevalent malignant tumors [1], and is the cause of over one million deaths annually worldwide [2]. While surgical resection remains the preferred treatment for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in well-compensated cirrhosis patients, thermal ablation techniques offer a credible non-surgical option. Their minimal invasiveness, high tolerability, safety, established efficacy in local disease control, virtually unlimited repeatability, and cost-effectiveness render them valuable alternatives. Microwave ablation (MWA) of HCC appears to be a safe and effective treatment. Here we report a case of 53-year-old male, followed for hepatitis C complicated by compensated cirrhosis, During the follow up, Laboratory tests found liver function tests were eleveted, α-fetoprotein (AFP) was normal. Abdominal ultrasound showed a focal hepatic mass straddling segments VI and VIII, rounded, well-limited, with heterogeneous hyperechoic echostructure, and splenomegaly. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography showed a chronic liver desease with a focal lesion straddling segments VI and VIII, oval, tissue-like, hypodense in the center, measuring 50x41mm, with signs of early arterial enhancement consistent with HCC characteristics and signs of portal hypertension and a multicystic kidney. Hepatic MRI revealed a chronic liver disease straddling segments VII and VIII of a hepatic lesion measuring 23x 22mm classified as Li-RADS 4 with signs of portal hypertension and splenomegaly. Based on these results, the patient was diagnosed as HCC with well compensated cirrhosis, and in view of the fact that he had only a single lesion and was in functional grade A of Child-Pugh classification and staged as BCLC-A in the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system, the patient benefited from microwave ablation for his HCC, with good clinical, biological and radiological evolution. Microwave Ablation (MWA) emerges ..........