Patient Pathway

Ablative therapy is a minimally-invasive procedure which is used to destroy abnormal tissue, for example cancerous cells. The techniques are used as an alternative to surgical removal of a tumour. Generally ablation is used when the tumours are small in size. There are advantages of using ablation if a patient has complications which make surgery high risk.

Not all of the techniques described are recommended by the National Institute of Care and Excellence (NICE) and there are limitations on which techniques are available at your local hospital. For more details about the different ablation techniques view the downloadable chart.

Download the Minimally Invasive Therapies Chart