Microwave Ablation

Microwave abla­tion is a min­i­mal­ly inva­sive approach to treat­ing tumors using tar­get­ed heat ener­gy. This allows us to tar­get spe­cif­ic tumors while pro­tect­ing the sur­round­ing healthy tis­sue. At Duly Health and Care, we part­ner with you through every step of this treat­ment option, from under­stand­ing if it’s right for your unique sit­u­a­tion to sup­port­ing your recovery. 

When Microwave Abla­tion Might Be Right for You

Microwave abla­tion can be a great option when tumors are small, dif­fi­cult to reach sur­gi­cal­ly, or if your health com­pli­ca­tions make tra­di­tion­al surgery too risky. Our care team often rec­om­mends this method for:

• Liv­er tumors
• Lung tumors
• Kid­ney tumors

Because microwave abla­tion tar­gets only the tumor while pro­tect­ing near­by healthy tis­sue, it’s par­tic­u­lar­ly effec­tive for local­ized tumors. Your care team may rec­om­mend using it to shrink tumors so they can respond bet­ter to oth­er treat­ments or can be removed more eas­i­ly later.

Prepar­ing for Your Procedure

Your health and com­fort are our top pri­or­i­ties. We want you to feel con­fi­dent and pre­pared on the day of your pro­ce­dure. Before your pro­ce­dure, you’ll receive per­son­al­ized instruc­tions from your care team. This is also the per­fect time to ask any ques­tions you might have. 

Here’s what you can gen­er­al­ly expect:

• We’ll ask you to avoid food and drink for a few hours before treatment
• You may need to tem­porar­i­ly pause med­ica­tions that could increase bleed­ing risk (like blood thinners)
• Please share your com­plete list of med­ica­tions and sup­ple­ments, both pre­scrip­tion and over-the-counter
• Plan for some­one to dri­ve you home afterward

What Hap­pens Dur­ing Microwave Ablation

We typ­i­cal­ly per­form microwave abla­tion as an out­pa­tient pro­ce­dure, which means you can return home the same day. Here’s what you can expect:

1. Com­fort first: We’ll pro­vide med­ica­tion to help you relax or sleep, along with a local anes­thet­ic to ensure you’re comfortable
2. Pre­cise guid­ance: Using imag­ing like CT scans, your doc­tor will guide a thin probe through your skin to reach the tumor
3. Tar­get­ed treat­ment: A probe deliv­ers microwave ener­gy that heats and destroys tar­get­ed cells while seal­ing blood ves­sels to reduce bleeding
4. Care­ful mon­i­tor­ing: Our team stays with you through­out the pro­ce­dure, which may take between 30 min­utes to a few hours, depend­ing on the size and num­ber of tumors

Com­fort Dur­ing and After Your Procedure

Thanks to the seda­tion and anes­thet­ic, most patients don’t expe­ri­ence dis­com­fort dur­ing the pro­ce­dure. After­ward, you may expe­ri­ence mild sore­ness or aches near the treat­ment site. These symp­toms are usu­al­ly man­age­able with over-the-counter pain reliev­ers and should fade with­in a few days.

What to Watch For After Treatment

Microwave abla­tion is gen­er­al­ly safe, but it has some side effects like any med­ical pro­ce­dure. Some patients experience:

• Tired­ness or mild flu-like symp­toms for a few days
• Low-grade fever
• Sore­ness at the probe inser­tion site
• Tem­po­rary dis­com­fort or swelling

Depend­ing on the treat­ment area, there may be spe­cif­ic considerations:

• Liv­er treat­ment: Occa­sion­al­ly, inflam­ma­tion of the gall­blad­der or tem­po­rary effects on near­by ducts
• Kid­ney treat­ment: Some patients notice minor bleed­ing or blood in the urine
• Lung treat­ment: Small risk of pneu­moth­o­rax (col­lapsed lung) or flu­id buildup

While infec­tion is rare, we want you to part­ner with us in your recov­ery. Call your care team if you expe­ri­ence chills, high fever, or increased red­ness and swelling at the treat­ment site.

Your Fol­low-Up Care

A few weeks after your abla­tion, we’ll sched­ule imag­ing (usu­al­ly an MRI or CT scan) to see how your body responds to treat­ment. If the tumor shrinks or dis­ap­pears, we con­sid­er the treat­ment a success!

Based on your results, addi­tion­al abla­tion ses­sions or oth­er ther­a­pies may be nec­es­sary. Through­out this process, your Duly care team will be right beside you, pro­vid­ing guid­ance, mon­i­tor­ing your progress, and sup­port­ing your health jour­ney every step of the way.