Efficiency and safety of percutaneous ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation for right adrenal metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To retrospectively summarize and evaluate the efficiency and safety of percutaneous ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for adrenal metastasis (AM) from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods From October 2009 to September 2018, 16 patients with AM from HCC who underwent percutaneous RFA in the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University were enrolled in the study. The complete ablation and local tumor progression rates were elevated, and the side effects and complications were summarized. Results The median ablation time of AM was 16 min. The complete ablation rate was 87.5% (14/16). After the follow-up period of 3 to 55 months, among the patients with complete ablation, there were 3 patients were detected local tumor progression (LTP), the LTP rate was 21.4% (3/14). As for the side effects and complications, 3 patients were diagnosed as hypertension crisis (3/16, 18.8%), 2 showed reduced heart rate and 1 of them exhibited frequent premature ventricular contraction which resulted in termination of ablation. There was no ablation-related death or adrenal failure. Conclusions Percutaneous US-guided RFA is safe and effective in the treatment of AM originated from HCC. Key words: Radiofrequency ablation; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Adrenal metastasis