Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation uses heat made by radio waves to kill cancer cells. Radiofrequency is a type of electrical energy. Ablation means destroying completely. The electrical energy heats up the tumour and kills the cancer cells. You have RFA through a probe that goes through your skin into the tumour. RFA is quite a new treatment and at the moment only a few specialist centres can offer it. 

Doctors are still finding out more about

• Which cancers to treat
• How well it works
• What the side effects are

RFA is not usually the main treatment for cancer. You might have RFA alone, or in combination with other treatments, if you have one of the following cancers

• Primary liver cancer
• Secondary cancer in the liver
• Primary lung cancer
• Secondary cancer in the lung
• Kidney cancer

Primary cancer means the original cancer in the part of the body where it started. A secondary cancer means cancer cells that have spread to another part of the body and formed a new tumour there (for example, secondary cancer in the liver that has spread from a bowel cancer).

Your doctors may recommend RFA if you can’t have surgery to treat your cancer. This may be because

• You have several tumours
• The position of the cancer means it is difficult to do surgery (for example, if it is near a major blood vessel)
• You can’t have a general anaesthetic

Researchers have found that RFA works best on small cancers, usually those smaller than 5cm across. But doctors sometimes use RFA to treat larger tumours. You can have RFA treatment several times.

Before the treatment starts you have either a general anaesthetic or a sedative with a local anaesthetic.

You can have RFA in different ways. The most common way is through your skin (percutaneously). But you can also have it

• During surgery
• During a laparoscopy

After an anaesthetic, you have a CT scan or an ultrasound scan. Your surgeon or radiologist use the scan to guide a probe through your skin into the tumour. The probe is very fine and is only 1 or 2 millimetres across. If you have a large tumour or more than one tumour, your surgeon may need to use several RFA probes.

The doctor can vary the heat depending on the size of your cancer. The time this takes varies, but it usually takes about 30 minutes to treat each tumour.

Most people have a few mild side effects after RFA. The main ones are

• Discomfort or mild pain where you’ve been treated
• Generally feeling unwell with a raised temperature for a few days
• Infection, but this is rare

Most people stay in hospital overnight. But it’s sometimes possible to have your treatment as an outpatient and go home the same day. Your doctor or specialist nurse will give you painkillers to take home with you.

Because RFA is a new treatment, it is too early to be sure how well it works in the long term. But research results are promising for some cancer types. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance for the use of RFA. Generally it says that RFA is safe to use. It also usually causes few side effects or complications.

You can find out more about the NICE guidance for RFA and any specific side effects in the following sections of CancerHelp UK.

• Radiofrequency ablation for lung cancer
• Surgery for bowel cancer that has spread to the liver
• Kidney cancer research
• Types of surgery for primary liver cancer

If you think RFA may be suitable for you, talk to your doctor. If there isn’t a treatment centre near you, your doctor may be able to refer you to a centre outside your area. The Cancer Thermal Ablation Fund in London takes referrals from outside London. Their website has information about RFA.