Bleeding after percutaneous radiofrequency ablation: successful treatment with transcatheter embolization

Purpose: This knowledge will provide an ability to earlier detect bleeding complications after radiofrequency ablation (RFA), to manage these complications appropriately with endovascular procedures and minimize the sequelae. Materials and methods: From 2002 to 2005, 96 patients with 150 hepatic tumours underwent t 26 RFA sessions. Fifty-eight patients had HCC, 34 had liver colorectal metastases and 4 had cholangiocellular carcinoma. Sixty-one patients were men and 35 were women (mean age 69.82 years, age range 39-89). The lesions number ranged from I to 7 per patients (mean 1.6 nodules) with a mean diameter of 28.5 mm (range 80-10 mm). Seventy-seven patients underwent a single ablative session, 13 patients underwent 2 sessions, 4 patients underwent 3 sessions and 2 patients underwent 4 sessions. The number Of tumours treated in each ablative session was I in 106, 2 in 18 and 4 in 2 patients. Results: Two cases of serious haemorrhages occurred after the procedures in two patients treated for liver metastases. An endovascular embolization was proposed for both patients using polyvinyl-alcohol and micro-coils. The absence of bleeding was first confirmed during angiography and then by CT performed the day after the angiographic procedure. Conclusion: Transarterial embolization (TAE) represents the treatment of choice in the management of iatrogenic bleeding after RFA since it is minimally invasive, have a high success rate and a low incidence of complications compared to the more complex and dangerous surgical or laparoscopic options in patients who are often haemodynamically unstable and therefore at high anaesthetic and surgical risk.