Biliary or Digestive Protection by Room Air Interposition for Thermal Ablation of Central Hepatic Tumors

This study aims to analyse retrospectively the feasibility, the safety, and the efficiency, of biliary or digestive protection with room air interposition for thermal ablation of central liver tumors with high iatrogenic risk. Thermal ablation is a mini-invasive and curative treatement of liver tumors. However, it requires to be carefull about surrunding organs, such as digestive structures or central biliary tree, which can be injured if not insulated. The technique of gas interposition to protect adjacent gut is already known and validated with carbonic gas. Nevertheless, resorption of this gas is very fast, making its use tricky to keep a correct insulation during the whole thermal ablation process. Room air interposition is easy to use and can offer a slow resorption speed. Furthermore no datas are available concerning the use of room air whatever the organ protected, and the protection of central biliary tree whatever the gas used.