The review synthesizes three decades of literature, spanning 1995 through early 2025, on five distinct ablation modalities applied to malignant solid tumors in patients aged 18 years or younger: radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, microwave ablation, irreversible electroporation, and electrochemotherapy. Each works through a fundamentally different biophysical mechanism. Radiofrequency ablation, the oldest and most widely studied thermal technique, drives alternating electrical current through an electrode tip, generating resistive heat that coagulates tissue at temperatures above roughly 60 degrees Celsius. Cryoablation takes the opposite approach, cycling argon and helium gases through a probe to freeze and thaw tissue, rupturing cell membranes through ice-crystal formation and osmotic stress. Microwave ablation uses electromagnetic fields at around 915 MHz or 2.45 GHz to agitate water molecules, heating tissue faster and over larger volumes than radiofrequency energy while remaining less susceptible to the heat-sink effect created by nearby blood vessels, a phenomenon in which circulating blood carries thermal energy away from the treatment zone and leaves tumor cells at the margin viable.

The two nonthermal techniques in the review sidestep heat altogether. Irreversible electroporation delivers short, high-voltage electrical pulses that destabilize cell membranes, creating permanent nanoscale pores that trigger cell death while largely preserving the protein scaffolding of surrounding tissue, including blood vessels, nerves, and ducts. That tissue-sparing property makes it theoretically attractive near critical structures such as the liver hilum, though animal work has shown that cardiac-gated synchronization is needed to prevent ventricular arrhythmias when ablation occurs near the heart. Electrochemotherapy combines intravenous or intratumoral chemotherapy, typically bleomycin, with electrical pulses that transiently permeabilize cell membranes, dramatically increasing drug uptake inside tumor cells. A 2026 case report highlighted in the review describes electrochemotherapy as a potential local treatment for residual MIBG-avid disease in refractory pediatric neuroblastoma, illustrating how the technique may reach children whose disease resists conventional therapy.

Behind the technical catalog lies an epidemiological backdrop that gives the review its urgency. The authors report that hepatoblastoma, the most common malignant liver tumor of early childhood, has shown the steepest rising incidence among ablation-relevant solid tumors, with an annual percent change of +2.17 percent. Meanwhile, five-year survival for pediatric bone tumors and soft tissue sarcomas remains stuck near 60 percent, a figure that has improved only incrementally over decades. For children with relapsed or refractory disease, options narrow sharply, and this is precisely where ablation has carved out its clinical niche. The review is emphatic on one point: surgical resection and systemic chemotherapy remain the primary treatment for all malignant solid tumors discussed, and ablation is reserved for relapsed, refractory, or surgically limited scenarios, such as pulmonary metastases of osteosarcoma that cannot all be removed surgically, or recurrent liver tumors in a child who has already undergone hepatic resection.

The clinical evidence, however, is fragile. For malignant solid tumors, the review finds the literature limited to small retrospective series with heterogeneous populations and short follow-up, precluding any conclusions about survival benefit. A phase 1 pilot study of radiofrequency ablation for recurrent pediatric solid tumors published in Cancer in 2009 remains one of the few prospective efforts, and a 2014 systematic review in Pediatric Radiology, along with a 2020 meta-analysis of interventional radiology-guided procedures in pediatric solid tumors in the European Journal of Pediatric Surgery, both concluded that the pediatric literature consists largely of case reports and single-institution experiences. A 2022 series in Pediatric Blood & Cancer on percutaneous ablation of malignant and locally aggressive solid tumors in children added valuable multi-modality data but remained retrospective. The contrast with adult interventional oncology is stark: in adults, randomized trials and large registries have established ablation as standard care for selected hepatocellular carcinomas and other lesions, while pediatric practice continues to extrapolate from devices and evidence generated for grown bodies.

That extrapolation problem is more than academic. A 2023 study in Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology asked pointedly whether there is really no kit for kids, quantifying how few high-volume interventional radiology devices carry manufacturer recommendations for pediatric use. Ablation probes are sized, powered, and shaped for adult anatomy; a probe designed to create a five-centimeter ablation zone in an adult liver may overshoot dangerously in the liver of a toddler. Pediatric operators must therefore adapt technique on the fly, adjusting power settings, overlapping smaller ablations, and relying on experience rather than validated device labeling. The same research group published a companion analysis in 2023 on cryoablation for bone and soft tissue lesions in pediatric patients, cataloguing complications and preventive measures, and a 2024 report describing a decade of cryoablation experience in extra-abdominal desmoid tumors in children and young adults, one of the larger single-center pediatric ablation experiences in the literature.

Imaging guidance is the quiet enabler of all these techniques, and its evolution matters as much as the energy sources themselves. Ultrasound offers real-time visualization without ionizing radiation, a decisive advantage in children, but struggles with deep or bone-encased targets. Computed tomography provides precise needle-path planning for lung and bone lesions, as demonstrated in the CT-guided thermal ablation of pulmonary osteosarcoma metastases reported in Annals of Surgical Oncology in 2016. Magnetic resonance guidance represents the frontier: MR thermometry allows operators to watch temperature maps build in real time, and MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery, which ablates through intact skin without any needle at all, has established clinical services for pediatric bone tumors such as osteoid osteoma, as outlined in 2016 guidelines for building such programs. Three-dimensional visualization systems have also been paired with microwave ablation for relapsed hepatoblastoma in a small pilot study, suggesting that fusion imaging and volumetric planning will increasingly define the pediatric standard of care.

What emerges from the review is a field at an inflection point. Clinical adoption is accelerating, device technology is improving, and the biophysical rationale for each modality is well understood, yet the pediatric evidence remains confined to small, retrospective, single-institution series with heterogeneous populations and short follow-up. The authors identify a coordinated multicenter registry with standardized survival endpoints as the most urgent unmet need in the field, a call that echoes the standardization of terminology and reporting criteria established for image-guided tumor ablation in the adult literature more than a decade ago. Without shared endpoints, pooled data, and honest complication reporting, pediatric ablation risks remaining a promising anecdote rather than an evidence-based option. The review also transparently notes that generative AI was used during manuscript preparation to cross-check the literature search and copy-edit, with all content reviewed and verified by the authors, a sign of how the field’s own scholarship is modernizing.

For families facing a relapsed osteosarcoma nodule in the lung, a recurrent hepatoblastoma after resection, or a refractory neuroblastoma mass wrapped around vital structures, image-guided ablation already offers something precious: a percutaneous option that can destroy tumor while preserving tissue, function, and future growth potential. The review’s message to the medical community is that the next decade must be spent proving, not merely practicing, that promise. With hepatoblastoma incidence climbing, survival for sarcomas plateauing near 60 percent, and devices still built for adults, the children who stand to benefit most from needle-based tumor destruction are precisely those whose evidence base is weakest. Turning scattered single-center experiences into a rigorous, multicenter evidence engine, the authors argue, is no longer optional. It is the prerequisite for making image-guided ablation a standard, trusted pillar of pediatric cancer care rather than a last resort practiced in the shadows of the operating room.

Subject of Research: Image-guided percutaneous ablation modalities for malignant solid tumors in children

Article Title: Image-guided ablation for pediatric malignant solid tumors: a review of modalities, evidence, and clinical applications

Article References: Shashi, K., Sabado, J., Chewning, R., Shahin, M., & Shaikh, R. (2026). Image-guided ablation for pediatric malignant solid tumors: a review of modalities, evidence, and clinical applications. Pediatric Radiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-026-06781-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s00247-026-06781-1

Keywords: pediatric oncology, image-guided ablation, radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, microwave ablation, irreversible electroporation, electrochemotherapy, hepatoblastoma, sarcoma, interventional radiology, Pediatric Radiology, tumor ablation