Tumor ablation
If you have a kidney, liver, lung, or bone tumor, your doctor may recommend treating it with ablation at Montage Health. This less invasive alternative to surgery uses heat or cold to destroy the tumor. You’ll recover sooner and with less pain than after surgical tumor removal.
Preparing for tumor ablation
After receiving your doctor’s referral, we’ll schedule a clinic visit. You’ll have a chance to ask questions and learn the details of tumor ablation, including these options:
Don’t eat or drink anything the evening before tumor ablation.
Day of treatment
After you come to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, you’ll:
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Change into a hospital gown
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Receive an intravenous (IV) line for fluids and medications
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Meet your interventional radiologist to discuss the procedure
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Go to the procedure suite, where your care team will attach sensors to monitor your vital signs
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Receive either conscious sedation (to relax you and prevent pain) or general anesthesia (to make you sleep and prevent pain)
How tumor ablation works
You’ll receive ablation from an interventional radiologist — a doctor who uses imaging guidance to perform minimally invasive procedures. The doctor will:
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Place a small needle into your tumor under the guidance of ultrasound or computed tomography (CT) images
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Deliver hot or cold energy through the needle to kill the tumor
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Remove the needle and cover your incision with a dressing
Your care team will monitor you for several hours as you recover from sedation or anesthesia. You may go home the same day or after a short hospital stay.
After tumor ablation
Ask your care team how to relieve side effects such as:
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Pain at the treatment site, which should fade after several days
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Post-ablation syndrome, which includes a low fever, body aches, and other flu-like symptoms that may last up to 10 days
Follow-up care
You’ll see us in the interventional radiology clinic after your next tumor imaging scan, usually three to six months after thermal ablation. Follow-up visits help your doctors determine the next steps for your care.
