Laser ablation for small hepatocellular carcinoma: State of the art and future perspectives

Figure 2 Representative case of complete ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma of 5 cm with combined treatment (laser ablation followed by trans-arterial-chemo-embolization). A: Computed tomography (CT) scan before Laser ablation (LA) shows a lesion 5 cm in diameter beneath the capsule in S8 during arterial phase; B: CT scan after LA shows an area of necrosis larger than basal lesion with small viable foci (white arrowhead) within the zone of coagulation; C: CT scan shows compact retention of iodized oil in the residual viable tissue (black arrowheads) after trans-arterial-chemo-embolization (TACE) session; D: CT scan shows marked volume reduction of treated area and clear shrinkage of viable tissue (black arrowhead) 6 mo after the combined procedure.