Carbon dioxide-enhanced sonographically guided radiofrequency ablation plus transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma.

A 78-year-old man had a history of blood transfusion and hepatitis C virus-related liver cirrhosis. He was admitted to the authors' hospital with a hepatocellular carcinoma just below the right hemidiaphragm. Although the lesion was not well visualized with standard sonography, it was clearly defined by performance of sonography with intraarterial injection of carbon dioxide, allowing safe and accurate radiofrequency ablation. To increase the extent of tumor ablation, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization was performed immediately before radiofrequency ablation. By concomitant application of these two techniques, complete tumor necrosis was achieved without the need to perform additional ablation.