Published online Dec 15, 2004. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v10.i24.3543
Revised: February 14, 2004
Accepted: February 21, 2004
Published online: December 15, 2004
In the past decade, a variety of interventional procedures have been employed for local control of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). These include transcather arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and several tumour ablation techniques, such as percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI), radio-frequency ablation (RFA), or percutaneous microwave coagulation therapy (PMC), laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT), etc. For a definite assessment of the therapeutic efficacy of interventional procedures, histological examination using percutaneous needle biopsy may be the most definite assessment of the therapeutic efficacy of interventional therapy, however, it is invasive and the specimen retrieved does not always represent the entire lesion owing to sampling errors. Therefore, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) play a crucial role in follow-up of HCC treated by interventional procedures, by which the local treatment efficacy, recurrent disease and some of therapy-induced complications are evaluated. Contrast enhanced axial imaging (CT or MR imaging) may be the most sensitive test for assessing the therapeutic efficacy. The goal of the review was to describe the value of CT and MRI in the evaluation of interventional treatments.