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Interventional radiology in liver cancer

Consultant Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologist, St George's Hospital, Blackshaw Road, London SW17 OQT, UK

Summary

• Surgery optimizes survival rates for liver cancer but is feasible in only a limited number of patients.
  
• Interventional techniques can increase the proportion of patients eligible for surgery.
  
• Radiofrequency ablation has been shown to give results not far short of surgery in patients who are unsuitable for surgery.
  
• Chemoembolization and selective internal radiation treatment have survival benefits over systemic chemotherapy in hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal metastases, respectively.
  

For many years, interventional radiology has played a role in the management of patients with malignant disease that affects the liver. In the past, this role was mainly related to palliative procedures. Over the last decade, we have witnessed the ascent of many percutaneous and endovascular therapeutic techniques that have defined the new specialty of interventional oncology. This article focuses on interventional radiology treatments for hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal liver metastases. We review the standard techniques and the results of these procedures.