title: Ultrasound-guided percutaneous cryotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Reports on percutaneous cryoablation to treat patients with HCC are sparse in the medical literature. This study aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of percutaneous cryotherapy for unresectable or recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  The results of 40 patients with unresectable HCC and 26 patients with recurrent HCC treated with ultrasound-guided percutaneous cryotherapy from January 2006 to June 2009 were retrospectively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We used percutaneous cryotherapy to treat 76 tumors in 40 patients with unresectable and 76 tumors in 26 patients with recurrent HCC. The size of the tumors was 2.8 ± 1.7 cm (mean ± S.D.). The mean number of treatment sessions for unresectable and recurrent HCC were 1.7 and 1.4, respectively. All cryotherapy procedures were technically successful. No procedure-related death was observed. The overall complication rate was 12.1%. Patients with unresectable HCC had 1-, and 3-year overall survival rates of 81.4%, and 60.3%, while the disease-free survival rates at 1 year and 3 years were 67.6% and 20.8%, respectively. Patients with recurrent HCC had 1-, and 3-year overall survival rates of 70.2%, and 28.8%, while the disease-free survival rates at 1 year and 3 years were 53.8% and 7.7%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ultrasound-guided percutaneous cryotherapy was safe and efficacious in the treatment of unresectable and recurrent HCC. Further randomized trials are needed to compare the safety and efficacy of cryotherapy with other forms of percutaneous treatment so that an unbiased therapeutic strategy can be devised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First People's Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, 528000 Guang Dong, People's Republic of China. chwei@fsyyy.com
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Eric C H
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Z J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.forename: W Z
authors.initials: WZ
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Wan Yee
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D003452:Cryosurgery / Q000379:methods*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014463:Ultrasonography