Abstract:

Radical resection is the first choice for early lung cancer. However, most patents have lost the chance of operation when they were diagnosed. They have to seek non-surgical treatments, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted drug therapy, immunotherapy, image guided thermal ablation, etc. Tumor ablation is an important treatment option for nonsurgical lung cancer and pulmonary metastatic patients. It is a minimally invasive alternative to surgical resection, and has been proved to be a safe and effective treatment. The methods of tumor ablation include: radiofrequency ablation, microwave ablation, cryoablation, laser ablation, high-intensity focused ultrasound, and irreversible electroporation. The physiologic basis of thermal ablation is that coagulative necrosis and cell death occur at temperatures above 60℃. Tumor ablation therapy can make patients obtain relatively long survival time and better life quality, as lung ablation provides repeatability and respiratory function worsening has not been observed.

Key words: Lung neoplasms, Ablation techniques, Surgical procedures, minimally invasive