title: Long-term efficacy of radiofrequency ablation compared to surgical resection for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the clinical efficacy of surgical resection (SR) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (SHC; ≥ 5 cm in diameter).
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical and follow-up data for 88 patients with SHC, including 42 cases of SR and 46 cases of RFA, were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean follow-up time was 34.36 ± 16.93 (range 6-72) months. The 1-, 3- and 5-year tumor-free survival rates were 85.4, 40.9, and 29.2% for the SR group and 82.6, 27.7, and 16.4% for the RFA group (p=0.51). The mean tumor-free survival for the SR and RFA groups was 32.78 and 29.39 months (p=0.51), respectively. The cumulative survival rates were 100. 63.7, and 50.4% for the SR group and 100, 66.3 and 37.4% for the RFA group (p=0.67). The average survival time was 50.78 and 47.62 months (p=0.67) for the SR and RFA groups, respectively. We divided the tumors into a ≤ 3 cm diameter group and a 3-5 cm diameter group and found that the data for both groups were not statistically different. Cox multivariate analysis indicated that the number of tumors significantly affected overall survival (p=0.02) after the effects of various factors were excluded. The overall tumor-free survival and overall survival of the SR and RFA groups were not statistically different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  RFA is safe and effective for the treatment of SHC, with a long-term efficacy similar to that achieved by SR. Therefore, RFA is a preferred treatment method for SHC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250021, China.
authors.forename: Xiangyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bu
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Shanyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D017741:Survivors