ReviewAnnals of medicine and surgery (2012)2026
From competition to complementarity: narrative review of laser interstitial thermal therapy, focused ultrasound, and radiofrequency ablation in minimally invasive neurosurgery.
Review in Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques have emerged as a transformative paradigm, offering alternatives to conventional open approaches. The demand for safer, less invasive procedures accelerated the development of laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT), focused ultrasound (FUS), and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), each employing a distinct mechanism with unique clinical implications. The objective was to critically evaluate and contextualize LITT, FUS, and RFA with emphasis on their comparative efficacy, safety, and roles as competing or complementary technologies in minimally invasive neurosurgery. Literature published between 2005 and 2025 was identified through PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, using keywords "LITT," "FUS," "RFA," "minimally invasive neurosurgery," "epilepsy," "glioma," and "movement disorders." Eligible English studies included clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and large observational studies. The extracted data were synthesized narratively, focusing on clinical indications, efficacy, safety, and patient-centered outcomes. Evidence highlights the roles of LITT, FUS, and RFA across tumors, epilepsy, and movement disorders with differing efficacy and safety indications. LITT is most effective in gliomas and metastases, FUS shows its strongest evidence in movement disorders, whereas LITT and RFA via stereo-electroencephalography-guided thermocoagulation remain relevant in epilepsy. Reported safety outcomes include edema with LITT, skull heating with FUS, and hemorrhage with RFA. Patient-centered outcomes across modalities suggest shorter recovery periods, improved cosmesis and quality of life, and favorable cost-effectiveness. LITT, FUS, and RFA represent complementary rather than competitive modalities in minimally invasive neurosurgery. Advances in imaging, navigation, thermal technologies, and patient-centered approaches are likely to accelerate their integration into cohesive, multimodal neurosurgical strategies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.