Has anyone had Radio frequency ablation?

HI Charlene, My husband had surgery on liver last January, but then had RFA on a lung spot four months ago. He stayed overnight in hospital though some people go home same day. Tom had a blood pressure slight problem (I can’t remember if it was high or low) most likely from anesthesia so that’s why he stayed the night.

The procedure he tolerated easily, nothing like surgery. The radiologist sticks in one thin needle and the procedure is watched on screen. when the needle hits the target area, then the dr. pushes through the skinny needle some even skinnier probes that fan out and ablate, or destroy, the target tissue. This is done with radio waves…the effect is “cooking” the area. Then this spot gets inflamed. The first month scan, the dr said the spot always looks bigger rather than smaller…so don’t be surprised or worried. The surrounding tissue gets inflamed and the tumor tissue will die off. So far my husband has had two follow up scans. The area looks smaller. They monitor for 6 – 9 months. If the spot doesn’t disappear, he has the choice of repeating the ablation or having a surgical excision and biopsy.

Overall it is a relatively painess procedure compared to surgery. There is stress on the body…but minimalized as much as possible.

I found more info on RFA by searching for “Interventional Radiology.”

Hope this helps.

Sarah

Hi Charlene,
My husband Joe had RFA on a tumor in his liver that was 5 cm. He had the procedure last June and it was rough for a few weeks after but we really didn’t know what to expect. The doctor told us that there would be pain but I guess we didn’t realize how much. He was on a pain pump in the hospital and went home the day after the procedure but the next few days were rough. It did seem to do the trick. The tumor doesn’ts how up on the scans anymore. He still has two large tumors in his liver, to big to treat but not growing much at present. I hope that helps you. I think there are severalpeople who have had this procedure. Maybe they will answer you also. God Bless and good luck Mary Anne