Radiofrequency Ablation for Cancer

Preparing for RFA

Please avoid eating solid foods and drinking liquids (other than water) for six to eight hours before the procedure. Continue to take your regular medications. If you are diabetic, consult with your doctor regarding insulin.

Arriving for the Exam

Arrive one hour before your procedure to allow for preparation. Your procedure is in the Farr Building on the West Campus. Report to the Day Care unit on the 8th floor. When you arrive, a radiology nurse will complete a pre-procedure workup, which involves:

• Starting an intravenous (IV) line
• Drawing blood
• Meeting with the radiologist to discuss the ablation procedure
• Getting your written consent for the procedure

Once you complete these pre-procedure steps, your care team will take you to the CT Department.

You will enter the CT room and lie on an X-ray table. A technician will take a CT scan of your body to find the best area of approach to the tumor. The radiologist then cleans off the skin over the area with a special soap. You’ll get numbing medication in the skin through a small needle, feeling a pinch during the injection. You should not feel any pain after being numbed.

The radiologist then inserts a needle electrode through the numbed area of skin and into the tumor. You may feel some pressure when this happens. Once the needle is in the center of the tumor, the radiologist transmits radiofrequency (RF) energy waves into the tumor through the needle electrode.

We’ll repeat this process for multiple tumors. Once the RF waves have destroyed all of the cancer cells, the radiologist will remove the needle electrode. The radiologist will clean your skin again and apply a bandage over the entry point(s) of the needle.

How Long Does RFA Take?

RFA procedures vary in length of time, depending on the size and number of tumors that the radiologist is treating. In general, an RFA procedure lasts about an hour and a half. You’ll need to stay at the Day Care unit for two to four hours after the procedure so we can observe you closely.

Does RFA Hurt?

You may have some discomfort with this procedure. Some people need painkillers and/or anti-anxiety medications. In the most involved cases, people can get these medications through the IV line. Our team makes every effort to minimize your discomfort during all steps of the procedure.

You should feel well, but may have some tenderness around the area where the radiologist inserted the needle electrode.

Here are some guidelines for how to care for yourself after the ablation:

• Take it easy. Do not strain, lift heavy objects or do physical exercise for 24 hours after RFA.
• Do not take aspirin or aspirin-like products (such as Motrin, Advil, Nuprin or Aleve) for three weeks after RFA, unless your doctor says it’s safe to do so.
• Keep the area of skin around the insertion site clean and dry.

The radiologist who performs your RFA will give you initial results after they complete your procedure. However, your care team needs to perform follow-up CT scans at later dates to actively monitor the tumor's response to the RFA procedure.