Radiofrequency Ablation Using a Separable Clustered Electrode for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinomas: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Dual-Switching Monopolar Mode Versus a Single-Switching Monopolar Mode

Recently, dual switching monopolar RFA (DSM-RFA) was developed to enhance further the efficiency of the single switching monopolar RFA (SSM-RFA) in creating ablation zone; Yoon et al. reported that DSM-RFA allowed significantly greater RF energy delivery to target tissue per given time, and then, created significantly larger ablation zone than the SSM-RFA in ex vivo and in vivo animal experiments. A retrospective comparative study by Choi et al. reported that the DSM-RFA created significantly larger ablation volume than, but seemed to show similar LTP rate to the SSM-RFA. Still, whether the physical differences between SSM-RFA and DSM-RFA translate into better clinical outcomes remains an open question. Regarding that the choice of equipment is an essential factor to consider in planning image-guided tumor ablation procedure, we thought that the prospective comparison between DSM-RFA and the SSM-RFA would be helpful for improving results of RFA.

Therefore, the purpose of this study was to prospectively compare the efficacy, safety and mid-term outcomes of DSM-RFA with those of conventional SSM-RFA in the treatment of HCC.