A procedure used to treat primary liver tumors that cannot be dealt with resection (i.e. small size tumors associated to significant increase in the portal vein blood pressure or bilirubin levels).

Also, thermal ablation is used for metastatic liver tumors in patients who for some reason cannot undergo surgery. Guided by ultrasound, a needle is inserted in the tumor mass and its cells destroyed with the tip of the needle whose high temperature (212ºF) causes coagulation necrosis.

This allows weak patients who could not tolerate major surgery to undergo a procedure involving a minimum hospital stay (the procedure normally lasts 15-30 minutes and can repeated several times).

Patients are usually sent home the following day. The treatment can also be offered to hepatocarcinoma patients already on the liver transplant waiting list, or to patients with liver metastases.