title: Radiofrequency ablation vs. surgical resection on the treatment of patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma: a system review and meta-analysis of five randomized controlled trials.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of the efficacy and safety between radiofrequency ablation (RFA ) and surgical resection (SR) in treating small hepatocellular carcinoma (SHCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  RCTs comparing RFA with SR for SHCC were collected from PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, EMBASE and CNKI data base. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five RCTs with a total of 776 patients were included in this analysis. The 1-, 3-year overall survival rate and 1-year recurrence-free survival rate were of no difference between the RFA and SR . However, SR was shown to be superior to the RFA with the analysis of 5-year overall rate and 3-, 5-year recurrence-free survival rate. The 1-year recurrence rate was similar between the SR and RFA . However, the 2-, 3-year recurrence rate of RFA is significantly higher than SR . In addition, the SR presented a high complication rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SR treatment led to a higher long-term survival rate and a lower long-term recurrence rate, while RFA led to a lower complication rate than SR. However, Further research was needed to investigate the efficacy of RFA because of the inadequate research data and the heterogeneity among the included studies.
authors.forename: Chunchuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Nianzhou
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qingsong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Xiaowu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Kuansheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bie
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D047368:Tumor Burden