Microwave ablation successfully treated thyroid tumor and hepatic hemangioma together

  Although not as common as thyroid adenoma, cavernous hemangioma of the liver is one of the common benign diseases of the liver on ultrasound physical examination. When the tumor enlarges, it can produce occupying symptoms and require surgical treatment if necessary. A cavernous hemangioma that is more than 5-6 cm in diameter is usually referred to as a giant hepatic cavernous hemangioma. Treatment is necessary for hepatic cavernous hemangioma with the following conditions: (1) rapid tumor development, symptoms or deep anxiety; (2) tumor extrusion of normal liver tissue, causing obstructive jaundice and impairing liver function; (3) tumor adjacent to large blood vessels in the hepatic hilum, which will continue to increase in size and tightly encircle the large vessels, making future surgery more difficult and risky; (4) LCH in children and pregnant women with a tendency to rupture (4) LCH in children and pregnant women has a tendency to rupture.  Since the successful use of microwave ablation technology for the minimally invasive treatment of hepatic cavernous hemangioma in 2007, the author has continuously summarized her experience and built up a standardized treatment process and technical aspects. At the same time, I often encounter cases where thyroid tumor, breast tumor and liver cavernous hemangioma coexist, and many patients have great interest in microwave or radiofrequency minimally invasive ablation treatment of thyroid tumor and breast tumor, hoping that all thyroid tumor, breast tumor and liver cavernous hemangioma can be treated without incision.  In the past, we used to take microwave ablation of such patients organ by organ tumor, and solve the diseases belonging to different disciplines, specialties and organs in stages. However, with the continuous development and improvement of minimally invasive technology and minimally invasive concept, some patients have raised higher hopes due to multiple levels and aspects such as tight working time, long distance and economic expenses, i.e., they hope to cure several diseases at one time through one admission. In view of this new clinical demand, we have adopted the simultaneous microwave ablation treatment plan for submandibular gland tumor and thyroid tumor in the same neck, and achieved a successful result. With such an empirical basis, we attempted to microwave ablation of the patient’s thyroid tumor and liver cavernous hemangioma at the same time.  However, microwave ablation of hepatic cavernous hemangioma was performed under general anesthesia and tracheal intubation, while microwave ablation of thyroid tumors was performed under local anesthesia. Patients with hepatic cavernous hemangioma must have a good analgesic and sedative environment during microwave treatment, otherwise the intense thermal stimulation of microwaves will cause pain, increased abdominal pressure, and body writhing, which will increase the risk of hemangioma rupture and bleeding, so general anesthesia should be used. However, general anesthesia intubation is not suitable for thyroid microwave ablation.  Therefore, ablation of the thyroid gland under local anesthesia should be performed first, followed by ablation of hepatic hemangioma under general anesthesia. However, it must be considered whether the thyroid microwave ablation will be affected by the general anesthetic tracheal intubation as soon as the ablation is completed. The results showed that the trachea was not affected at all after the thyroid microwave ablation, and the tracheal intubation was performed as usual, and the hepatic hemangioma was ablated smoothly and completely as planned. The ablation of the thyroid tumor took 6 minutes and the ablation of the hepatic cavernous hemangioma took 35 minutes. The patient had no significant pain, dyspnea, dysphagia and other adverse reactions after the ablation and recovered rapidly, and was discharged from the hospital only 2 days after the treatment. Regular follow-up confirmed that the ablated thyroid adenoma and ablated hepatic cavernous hemangioma areas were well absorbed and shrunk significantly. The patient’s mental burden was completely removed, and some of the original symptoms were completely relieved and disappeared.