Preliminary clinical experience with laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

The purpose of this preliminary study was to evaluate whether laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT) may be used for palliative treatment of localized hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC). We applied LITT to two patients suffering from unresectable localized hepatocellular carcinomas of differen t sizes (2.5 and 4 cm). LITT was performed with an Nd:YAG laser (1,064 nm) at 5 W laser power (15-20 minutes), Thermometry during LITT was performed b y MRI using a temperature-sensitive T1-weighted fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence. Follow-up for local tumor control was performed by MRI and ultra sound. LITT was well tolerated and no adverse events occurred during or aft er LITT; no secondary liver lesions were seen in the follow-up (11 or 12 mo nths, respectively). Only minimal tumor growth was observed in the larger H CC (from 4 to 5 cm), whereas the smaller HCC remained unchanged in size dur ing 11 months of follow-up. We conclude that LITT might be an effective min imally invasive palliative treatment option for patients with small unresec table HCC.