Percutaneous laser ablation: a new contribution to unresectable high-risk metastatic retroperitoneal lesions?

// Tian’an Jiang 1 , Zhuang Deng 2 , Guo Tian 3,4 , Fen Chen 2 , Haiwei Bao 2 , Ju Li 2 and Weilin Wang 2,4 1 Department of Ultrasound Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China 2 Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China 3 State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China 4 Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China Correspondence to: Weilin Wang, email: // Keywords : laser ablation, ablation, retroperitoneal tumor, lymph nodes, oncology Received : July 25, 2016 Accepted : November 22, 2016 Published : December 10, 2016 Abstract BACKGROUND & AIMS: Metastasis in retroperitoneal lymph nodes is one of the signs of advanced stage or terminal stage of malignancy. We performed a trial to assess the safety and efficacy of ultrasonography (US)-guided local neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser ablation for metastatic lymph nodes in the retroperitoneal region. METHODS: We evaluated 4 cases of retroperitoneal metastatic lymph nodes treated using US-guided Nd:YAG laser ablation. Additionally, we reviewed the PubMed database for articles on thermal ablation of retroperitoneal lesions until March 2016, without language limitations. RESULTS: In our study, all lesions were nearly completely ablated with mild discomfort, including pain and fever at the 3-month follow-up. In the literature review, a total of 398 patients with 491 retroperitoneal tumors were identified, and complications after the procedure included enterovesical fistula, fecal incontinence, and hematoma. CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous laser ablation could be a theoretically promising approach for retroperitoneal metastatic lesions. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT02822053.