Impact of an ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation training program on the outcomes in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

PurposeThe aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the impact of a training program on the safety and efficacy of percutaneous ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Materials and methodsA total of 227 patients with 296 HCC nodules who underwent percutaneous RFA with or without transcatheter arterial chemoembolization at our institution were included. There were 163 men and 64 women with a mean age of 74.2 ± 8.3 (SD) years (range: 41–89 years). Percutaneous ultrasound-guided RFA was performed by three trainees (205 HCC nodules in 157 patients) or a mentor (91 HCC nodules in 70 patients) after preprocedural preparation including planning ultrasonography. We compared background-related, tumor-related, and treatment-related factors, and local recurrence and complication rates between the trainee group and the mentor group. Similarly, we compared these variables among the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 for trainee group.ResultsThe proportion of easy-to-treat tumors in the trainee group (109/205; 53.2%) was greater than that in the mentor group (33/91; 36.3%) (P = 0.020). No significant differences were observed in procedure difficulty among the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 for trainee group (easy-to-treat HCC nodules: 25/47; 53.2% vs. 39/79; 49.4% vs. 45/79; 57.0%. P = 0.775). The local recurrence rate in the trainee group was 8.8% (18/205 HCC nodules) which was equivalent to 7.7% in the mentor group (7/91 HCC nodules). No significant differences were observed in local recurrence rate (8.8% vs. 7.7%, respectively; P = 0.621) and major complication rate (1.3% vs. 1.4%, respectively; P = 0.999) between the trainee group and the mentor group. No significant differences were observed in local recurrence rates (5/47; 10.6%] vs. 11/79; 13.9%] vs. 2/79; 2.5%]) (P = 0.109) and major complication rates (1/36; 2.8%] vs. 1/62; 1.6%] vs. 0/59; 0%]) (P = 0.701) between the years 2015, 2016, and 2017 for trainee group.ConclusionA well supervised training program that includes planning ultrasonography fosters the efficacy and treatment quality of RFA for HCC.