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Freedman. Hepatoma Res 2020;6:10 Hepatoma Research
DOI: 10.20517/2394-5079.2019.32

Original Article Open Access

Microwave ablation of hepatocellular carcinomas in
octogenarians

Jacob Freedman 1,2

1 Department of Surgery and Urology, Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm 18288, Sweden.
2 Department of clinical sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 18288, Sweden
Correspondence to: Dr. Jacob Freedman, Department of Surgery and Urology, Danderyd University Hospital, Stockholm 18288,
Sweden. E-mail: jacob.freedman@ki.se

How to cite this article: Freedman J. Microwave ablation of hepatocellular carcinomas in octogenarians. Hepatoma Res
2020;6:10. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2019.32

Received: 14 Nov 2019 First Decision: 6 Feb 2020 Revised: 17 Feb 2020 Accepted: 27 Feb 2020 Published: 20 Mar 2020

Science Editor: Bruno Nardo Copy Editor: Jing-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract

Received: First Decision: Revised: Accepted: Published: Aim: To evaluate wether it is safe and meaningful to treat octogenarians with microwave ablation for hepatocellular
carcinoma. With an ageing population being healthier than previous generations, old limits for treating disease
Science Editor: Copy Editor: Production Editor: Jing Yu founded on patient age need to be revised. One of the most common tumour related death causes is hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC). With the development of minimally invasive therapies with curative potential, new ground is
being broken offering treatments to older patients in the hope of achieving prolongation and better quality of life.

Methods: In this retrospective single centre study of patients having a first microwave ablation therapy for HCC in
a national referral centre for ablative liver treatments, septuagenarians (n = 161, age 70-80) were compared with
octogenarians (n = 32, age 80-90).

Results: Octogenarians selected for microwave ablation of HCC at a regional multidisciplinary team conference have
similar outcomes as their younger control group. Survival, complications and length of stay are not different.

Conclusion: Octogenarians who are fit for ablative treatment of HCC should not be disqualified on grounds of age,
recognising that this group has an obvious immortality, or lead-time, bias as well as a probable selection bias in part
explaining their good results.

Keywords: Microwave, ablation, hepatocellular carcinoma, octogenarians, survival, complications

© The Author(s) 2020. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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