Advancements in minimally invasive image-guided liver therapies

This thesis is a contribution to the fight against cancer. It focuses on patients with hepatic malignancies. Interventional oncology (IO) is a rapidly evolving sub-speciality of interventional radiology with an increasing role in the management of cancer patients. Over the past two decades interventional radiologists together with scientists have ridding the tidal wave of technological innovation to introduce multiple novel cancer treatments. IO procedures are minimally invasive, targeted therapies that are associated with low complication rates and short hospital admissions. Such therapies offer clear advantages over surgical procedures and intense chemotherapeutic regimes that put a larger burden on both the health care budget and patients. In this thesis several novel minimally invasive therapies are investigated. PART I focuses on image-guided percutaneous RFA. PART II discusses transarterial liver therapies, such as transarterial chemoembolisation, radioembolisation and percutaneous hepatic perfusion. PART III investigates ways to improve the management of patients that undergo IO procedures.