title: Prognosis in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of anatomic and non-anatomic liver resection on prognosis of patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a meta-analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature on anatomic versus non-anatomic liver resection for the treatment of small HCC published in public was retrieved.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four non-randomized controlled trials studies were included in this analysis. These studies included a total of 776 patients: 484 treated with anatomic liver resection and 282 treated with non-anatomic resection. No significant differences were found concerning the 1, 3 and 5-year disease-free survival rate between the two groups. There was no significant difference between the two groups when comparing the 1, 3 and 5-year overall survival rate. We use the sensitivity analysis which found anatomic resection could extend the 3-year disease-free survival rate when compared with non-anatomic resection (odds ratio (OR)=0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.52-0.99, p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anatomic liver resection can extend the 3-year disease-free survival rate of patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma. Further randomized controlled trials are needed to define the exact value of anatomic resection and non-anatomic resection for small HCC.
authors.affiliation: The Department of General Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Sichuan Province, China. lijingdong358@126.com
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jing-Dong
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yun-Hong
authors.forename: Hari Krishna
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kanduri
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quan-Lin
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De-Xing
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qiang
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery*; D018849:Controlled Clinical Trials as Topic; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate