Keywords:
Multidisciplinary cancer care, Metastases, Cancer, Radiation safety, Efficacy studies, Ablation procedures, Percutaneous, MR, CT, Paediatric, Oncology, Interventional non-vascular
Authors:
I. Thanou, M. Moutafi, A. Papatheodoropoulou, E. botsa, L. Thanos; Athens/GR
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-2700
Conclusion
Advanced malignancies consist the second most common death cause among children[15],
though less prevalent compared to adult population.
Childhood cancer presents also,
compared to adult malignancies a different spectrum of prognosis,
location and histology,
as certain types of cancer are strongly associated with childhood while discrepancies are shown up concerning treatment options.
Metastatic malignancies in solid organs,
such as lung,
liver or bones are rare.
On the other hand RFA has been an established technique particularly regarding benign lesions such as osteoid osteoma or cardiac arrhythmias in children [3,16],
whereas a huge literature is available regarding adult malignancies.
As a minimally invasive technique,
it presents excellent technical success rates and good technical efficacy,
implied by its low complication rates.
Further evolutions over the last few decades in chemotherapy and screening,
which may allow an early diagnosis,
contributed to a rigorous increase of survival rates among young oncologic patients. As a result,
all ongoing efforts concern optimizing quality of life.
Towards this orientation application of locoregional treatments,
such as RFA or Microwave Ablation (MWA) may minimize length of hospitalization,
reduce pain,
improve life quality [17]and even expand life expectancy.
Thus,
RFA may consist a feasible and efficient alternative when indicated as a palliative treatment among pediatric oncologic patients in order to achieve long-lasting control.
Nevertheless,
multifocal disease and tumor size remain significant limitations of this method.
Despite the fact that there is no tumor size that RFA cannot be applied,
lesions exceeding 3 cm in diameter appeared a tension to recurrence,
compared with smaller lesions and at the same time multifocal disease may not be taken into consideration for RFA.Nevertheless,
further evolution regarding electrodes and generators may boost RFA effectiveness in larger lessions[18].
As the presented case series is consisted of patients with heterogenous characteristics,
regarding tumor histology,
size and site and considering the fact that relative literature remains limited,
more thorough investigation towards this type of treatment needs to take place in order to confirm our good outcome.