From May 15 to 17, 2026, the highly anticipated inaugural scientific meeting of the World Ablative Therapies Association (WATA 2026) was grandly convened at the New Qinghai Sheraton Hotel in Beijing, drawing global attention in the field of interventional ablation. As a premier global academic event in ablative therapies, the conference brought together hundreds of leading experts, scholars, and clinical backbone professionals from around the world across interventional medicine, oncology, radiology, surgery, and related disciplines to collectively explore cutting-edge technologies, clinical applications, standardized guidelines, and future trajectories in ablative therapy.
As a highly prevalent malignancy worldwide, liver tumors are increasingly managed via minimally invasive ablative therapy. This modality has become an indispensable core component of the comprehensive liver cancer management paradigm due to its distinct advantages, including minimal invasiveness, definitive therapeutic efficacy, rapid postoperative recovery, and repeatability. At WATA 2026, the Liver Ablation Parallel Session, serving as a core featured session, commenced on May 16 across two consecutive segments. It focused entirely on four central themes: "Safety and Quality Control, Technological Innovation, Precision Cure, and Synergistic Combination." Through 12 high-caliber specialized presentations, the session systematically showcased international cutting-edge concepts, original Chinese technologies, clinical insights, and the latest research breakthroughs in liver tumor ablation. This established a high-level, cross-regional, and multidisciplinary platform for academic exchange and technical dissemination, driving the high-quality evolution of minimally invasive liver ablation toward safer, more precise, smarter, and more standardized practices.
The session featured rich content with a well-structured and clinically oriented framework. It encompassed fundamental core topics such as ablation safety, quality control, and longitudinal patient management, while highlighting diverse technical innovations including cryoablation, microwave ablation, and Nanoknife ablation (irreversible electroporation). Furthermore, it incorporated hot-button topics like multi-modality image guidance, interventional robotics, combination therapies, and prognostic evaluation. Covering key dimensions and core issues in liver ablation clinical practice, the session fully reflected the deep integration of international perspectives with Chinese experience, as well as the close alignment of basic research and clinical applications, delivering a high-caliber, high-quality, and highly practical academic feast for all attendees.
Liver Ablation Parallel Session (I)
Time: May 16, 13:30–15:10 Venue: Meeting Room 1
This session was co-chaired by Professor Jian Wang from Peking University First Hospital and Professor Weihua Dong from Changzheng Hospital Affiliated to the Naval Medical University. Leveraging their profound clinical experience and academic insights, the two experts precisely managed the session's tempo, facilitated onsite Q&A, and guided in-depth discussions, fostering an efficient, pragmatic, and intellectually stimulating environment for the attendees. The five specialized presentations advanced systematically from quality control and technological innovation to solutions for challenging cases, comprehensively covering the core hot topics in liver ablation.
Expert Presentations
Professor Hyunchul Rhim: Safety, Complications, and Quality Control of Liver Ablation — From Planning to Perfection: A Practical Guide to Liver Ablation
Professor Hyunchul Rhim from Samsung Medical Center in South Korea delivered the heavy-hitting opening keynote. As an international authority in liver ablation, Professor Rhim systematically outlined the full-process quality control framework for liver ablation, spanning preoperative assessment, intraoperative procedures, to postoperative follow-up management. He emphasized that the safety and long-term efficacy of liver ablation depend on organically combining standardized operational protocols with individualized clinical decision-making. Explicit and actionable quality control standards and procedural guidelines must be established at every stage, including patient indication screening, multi-modality imaging precision evaluation, precise ablation margin control, and the comprehensive prevention and control of perioperative complications. The multicenter, large-sample clinical data and standardized workflows from South Korea shared in his report provided crucial benchmarks for the standardized development of global liver ablation, generating widespread resonance and profound discussion among the participating experts and scholars.
Professor Jiaping Li: Exploration and Practice of Cryoablation for Liver Cancer
Professor Jiaping Li from the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University focused on the innovative application and clinical practice of cryoablation, a classic minimally invasive technology. Professor Li detailed the mechanism of cryoablation using argon-helium targeted cryotechnology to achieve ultra-low temperatures of -196°C to precisely eliminate cancer cells. He highlighted the unique clinical advantages of this technique in high-risk liver cancer populations, such as elderly or frail patients, and those with severe liver cirrhosis or complex comorbidities. Drawing on his team’s more than ten years of rich clinical experience and long-term follow-up data, he demonstrated that cryoablation achieves long-term survival benefits comparable to surgical resection for small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). He underscored its core clinical values of being "ultra-minimally invasive, precisely visible, maximizing normal liver tissue preservation, and facilitating rapid postoperative recovery," thereby offering a safe and effective radical treatment option for liver cancer patients who are ineligible for or refuse surgery.
Professor Lingxiao Liu: Contrast-Enhanced Cone-Beam CT Combined with Ultrasound-Guided Ablation for Liver Metastases
Professor Lingxiao Liu from Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University presented an innovative breakthrough in multi-modality image guidance. Professor Liu systematically introduced a novel precision ablation model guided by the real-time fusion of contrast-enhanced cone-beam CT (CBCT) and ultrasound. By reconstructing the tumor’s blood supply and anatomical architecture in 3D, this technology can precisely identify millimeter-level tumor-feeding vessels, achieving subsegmental-level precision in localization, puncture, and ablation. Compared with traditional single-modality image guidance, this combined approach not only significantly reduces procedural time and radiation exposure for patients but also markedly improves the thoroughness of ablation and the local control rate for liver metastases. This is particularly true for hypovascular, multi-feeding, or deeply situated micro-metastases, opening up a new technical path for individualized and precise minimally invasive treatment of liver metastases.
Professor Qiyu Zhao: A Retrospective Comparative Study of Balloon Catheter-Assisted Ultrasound-Guided Ablation for Malignant Liver Tumors
Professor Qiyu Zhao from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine shared a highly practical technical innovation and retrospective research finding. Through a large-sample retrospective comparative study, Professor Zhao’s team scientifically evaluated the differences in efficacy and safety between balloon catheter-assisted technology and traditional ultrasound-guided ablation for malignant liver tumors. The results conclusively demonstrated that the balloon catheter-assisted technique effectively physical isolates adjacent vulnerable organs (such as the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, and heart), significantly mitigating the risk of thermal injury. Simultaneously, it optimizes puncture trajectory planning and puncture accuracy, making it exceptionally suited for tumors in high-risk locations such as the hepatic hilum, subcapsular regions, or adjacent to major vessels. The clinical adoption and promotion of this technique further expand the safe indications for liver ablation, providing a simple, practical, and reproducible solution for the safe and effective minimally invasive management of complex-site liver tumors.
Professor Xiongying Jiang: Nanoknife Ablation for Liver Tumors in Challenging Locations
Professor Xiongying Jiang from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University delivered the final presentation of the session, focusing on the clinical application of Nanoknife ablation, a cutting-edge non-thermal ablation technology, for liver tumors in challenging anatomical locations. Professor Jiang pointed out that for liver tumors adjacent to critical structures like major blood vessels, bile ducts, and the gallbladder, traditional thermal ablation techniques pose a high risk of causing thermal damage to surrounding normal tissues, potentially leading to severe complications. Conversely, Nanoknife ablation utilizes high-voltage pulsed electric fields to induce tumor cell apoptosis. It precisely obliterates the tumor while fully preserving surrounding normal tissue architectures, blood vessels, and bile ducts, successfully achieving the ideal therapeutic goal of "precision destruction with organ preservation." Incorporating a wide array of typical clinical cases, he meticulously explained key aspects of Nanoknife ablation, including precise preoperative planning, accurate electrode deployment, intraoperative real-time monitoring, and refined perioperative management. This comprehensively demonstrated the unique advantages and broad prospects of this technology in treating complex, high-risk liver cancers, offering a breakthrough therapeutic insight for clinically intractable cases.
Liver Ablation Parallel Session (II)
Time: May 16, 15:30–17:50 Venue: Meeting Room 1
This parallel session was co-chaired by Professor Lei Zhao from the Tsinghua Strait Research Institute, Professor Wenxiao Chai from Gansu Provincial Hospital, and Professor Zhijin Chen from the Luwan Branch of Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. With their rich clinical expertise, forward-looking academic insights, and rigorous scholarly attitude, the three experts seamlessly managed the pace of the seminar, offering insightful critiques and precise guidance for each presentation. Their efforts stimulated active interaction and vibrant exchange among the attendees, fostering a rich, pragmatic, and highly productive academic ambiance. This unit focused on hot topics and clinical bottlenecks in liver ablation, including combination therapies, multi-modality precision image guidance, head-to-head comparisons of cutting-edge technologies, interventional intelligent robotics, and longitudinal clinical management. Seven high-quality presentations expanded progressively, comprehensively showcasing the latest research achievements and clinical insights from China's liver ablation field.
TAE + MWA Professor Peng Du: Combination Therapy: TAE + MWA
Professor Peng Du from the Sixth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital systematically shared the clinical application framework and practical experience of transarterial embolization (TAE) combined with microwave ablation (MWA) for liver tumors. Integrating clinical guidelines and multicenter research data, Professor Du profoundly elaborated on the outstanding advantages of this combined regimen in enhancing complete tumor necrosis rates, effectively suppressing local recurrence risks, and significantly prolonging patients' progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). He clearly defined the optimal therapeutic window, procedural sequencing, and technical points of the combination therapy for liver tumors of varying sizes, clinical stages, and liver function statuses, offering a mature, standardized, and scalable clinical solution for intermediate-to-advanced, large, or hypervascular liver cancers.
Professor Dechao Jiao: MR-Guided Microwave Ablation for Liver Dome Tumors
Professor Dechao Jiao from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University targeted the liver dome—a widely recognized high-risk anatomical site—and presented targeted clinical research outcomes on MR-guided microwave ablation. He indicated that due to their concealed location and proximity to critical organs such as the diaphragm and heart, liver dome tumors present significant challenges for puncture and high risks during ablation under traditional image guidance. In contrast, MR guidance offers unique advantages, including a lack of ionizing radiation, high tissue resolution, multi-parametric imaging, and real-time monitoring. This enables full-process visualization and precise tracking during ablation, markedly enhancing puncture accuracy, ablation thoroughness, and procedural safety, thereby providing a safe, effective, and feasible minimally invasive solution for these complex cases that were historically difficult to manage.
Professor Ming Liu: A Comparative Efficacy Study of MRI vs. MRI-US Fusion Imaging-Guided Microwave Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Poor Ultrasound Visualization
Addressing the common clinical challenge of obscure liver cancers with poor ultrasound visualization, Professor Ming Liu from the Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University conducted a large-sample comparative study on microwave ablation guided by MRI versus MRI-US fusion imaging. Backed by rigorous controlled clinical trials and long-term follow-up data, Professor Liu scientifically validated that MRI-US fusion imaging successfully combines the high spatial resolution of MRI with the real-time guidance capabilities of ultrasound. This significantly enhances localization accuracy and ablation precision for micro, hypovascular, or isoechoic liver cancers, effectively resolving the long-standing clinical dilemma of being "unable to see clearly, target accurately, or ablate thoroughly" under solitary ultrasound guidance. His work provides high-level evidence-based medical data for the precise, minimally invasive treatment of liver tumors that are difficult to visualize on ultrasound.
Professor Min Xu: A Multicenter Cohort Study Comparing Irreversible Electroporation and Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Solitary Liver Cancers ≤5 cm
Professor Min Xu from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine presented the findings of a multicenter cohort comparative study evaluating irreversible electroporation (Nanoknife) versus stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for solitary liver cancers ≤5 cm. Drawing upon large-sample, long-term follow-up clinical data from multiple centers across China, Professor Xu objectively and comprehensively analyzed the differences between the two advanced modalities regarding efficacy, local control rate, complication incidence, survival benefit, and quality of life improvement. This study delineated the optimal patient populations and clinical application scenarios for each approach, offering a scientific, objective, and vital reference for selecting the most appropriate individualized radical treatment strategy for patients with early-stage, unresectable solitary liver cancer.
Professor Jiayan Ni: Prognostic Factor Analysis of TACE-MWA Combination Therapy for Intermediate-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma Based on ALBI Grade
Utilizing the internationally recognized Albumin-Bilirubin (ALBI) grade as the core evaluation tool, Professor Jiayan Ni from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University conducted a systematic prognostic factor analysis for intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with TACE combined with MWA. Through multivariate regression analysis, Professor Ni scientifically identified key risk factors influencing the therapeutic efficacy and patient outcomes of the combination therapy. He successfully established a prognostic evaluation model based on ALBI grading for combination therapy in intermediate-stage HCC, which can precisely predict treatment response, recurrence risk, and survival benefit. This model provides a scientific, practical, and quantifiable assessment tool for clinical optimization of treatment regimens, rational patient selection, and the formulation of individualized follow-up strategies.
Professor Sibin Wang: CT-Guided Percutaneous Interventional Robotics for Liver and Lung Tumor Ablation: From Intelligent Assistance to Autonomous Exploration
Professor Sibin Wang from the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital presented pioneering exploratory achievements in the field of interventional robotics. Professor Wang systematically outlined the technological evolution pathway of CT-guided percutaneous interventional robots, moving from intelligent assistance to autonomous precision procedures. He comprehensively expounded on the core technical superiorities of interventional robots in enhancing puncture precision, shortening operation times, minimizing radiation exposure, reducing complications, and navigating complex, deeply situated lesions. He further envisioned the broad prospects of autonomous and intelligent interventional robots in liver and lung tumor ablation, providing crucial technical underpinning for upgrading ablative therapies toward greater intelligence, precision, and standardization.
Professor Hongjian Shi: Longitudinal Management and Practical Techniques of Cryoablation for Liver Tumors
Focusing on the standardized clinical application of cryoablation, Professor Hongjian Shi from the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital systematically explained the longitudinal management framework of cryoablation for liver tumors, covering precise preoperative evaluation, standardized intraoperative execution, and refined postoperative follow-up. Integrating his extensive clinical expertise, Professor Shi highlighted core practical techniques such as puncture needle deployment strategies, real-time monitoring of ice ball formation, early identification and prevention of complications, and postoperative rehabilitation management. Combining both scientific rigor and high clinical utility, this content serves as a comprehensive, actionable practical guide for clinicians nationwide to standardize the execution of liver cryoablation.
Session Summary and Future Outlook
The half-day WATA 2026 Liver Ablation Parallel Session successfully concluded after two segments of intensive academic deliberation. The entire meeting was substantial, featuring numerous highlights and a vibrant exchange of ideas, fully demonstrating the rapid progress and remarkable achievements in liver tumor ablation globally, and particularly in China. Advancing from the construction of international quality control systems to original Chinese technical innovations and equipment development; from the optimization and upgrading of single ablation modalities to comprehensive combination therapies and multidisciplinary collaboration; from traditional image guidance to precision tracking via intelligent robotics and multi-modality fusion imaging; and from standardized management of common liver cancers to breakthrough solutions for complex, high-risk cases in challenging locations, the presentations addressed the real-world demands of frontline clinical practice comprehensively, from multiple dimensions and in-depth perspectives. They resolved long-standing technical pain points, providing a robust theoretical foundation and practical guidance for the standardized, precise, and intelligent advancement of liver tumor ablation.
Currently, minimally invasive ablation for liver tumors has entered a new era characterized by "precision, combination, intelligence, and individualization." With the continuous iteration and upgrading of imaging technologies, interventional devices, ablation instruments, and artificial intelligence, alongside the steady progression of deep clinical research, the indications for liver ablation will continue to expand, therapeutic efficacy will steadily rise, and safety will be further safeguarded. The successful convening of the WATA 2026 Liver Ablation Parallel Session not only comprehensively showcased the latest developments in the field but also forged a global consensus among experts and delineated future directions, establishing a critical foundation for the global dissemination, standardized application, and sustained innovation of liver ablation techniques.
Looking ahead, through the collective dedication of the global medical community, liver ablation therapies will remain steadfastly committed to the patient-centric core philosophy. Driven by the dual engines of technical innovation and standardized clinical practice, the field will continuously overcome clinical bottlenecks, providing more minimally invasive, effective, and safe therapeutic options for a broader population of liver tumor patients. This will contribute significantly to achieving the clinical goals of early detection, early treatment, and radical cure for liver cancer, advancing global liver tumor prevention and control, and writing a brand-new chapter in the high-quality development of minimally invasive liver cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.
