A Case of Microwave Ablation Activating Immune Response in Pulmonary Metastases from Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have significantly transformed the treatment of advanced solid tumors, revolutionizing the therapeutic landscape. However, drug resistance is a key clinical obstacle to the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients. We describe a patient who developed pulmonary metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma 5 years after hepatectomy. After continuous targeted therapy and immunotherapy, the lesion still progressed slowly, but after ablation of one lesion, the other lesions were significantly reduced when immunotherapy was used again. This case might provide insight into to the current low response rate to immunotherapy, providing a new direction for further exploration.