Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer in the world and the third most common cause of cancer related deaths. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) are effective measures for HCC management. Although MWA is usually considered to be superior to RFA in the medical community, clinical studies showed contradictory results. We aimed to compare the efficacy of both techniques using a randomized controlled trial. Methods: We had assessed all patients with definite HCC who were referred to our unit during the period from mid-June 2017 to mid-December 2017 for inclusion in the study. After fulfilling the criteria, patients were randomized to either RFA or MWA. Achieving complete ablation was ensured. Patients were followed up every 3 months after the procedure to detect any tumor recurrence. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between both techniques regarding complications, local tumor recurrence, development of de novo HCC lesions and changes in the modified Child-Pugh score. Time of ablation using MWA was significantly shorter than RFA (P<0.001). Conclusions: RFA and MWA are comparable techniques for HCC treatment. Our group couldn't prove any superiority of MWA over RFA except for the shorter time needed for ablation.

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Background: Upper endoscopic screening of cirrhotic patients reveals several gastric findings besides portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). These findings contribute to more than 20% of upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. The role of Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) and other lesions associated with PHG is debatable. Aim of the work:To describe the spectrum of lesions in the gastric mucosa in patients with portal hypertension, and to correlate the presence of H pylori with the risk of bleeding and serum gastrin level.Patients and Methods: The study included fifty patients who met the inclusion criteria. Upper endoscopy was performed on all of them, and biopsies were taken from the stomach and were examined by histopathology. Result: Among the 50 patients, 20% had non-variceal bleeding. White light endoscopy (WLE)'s most common documented finding was PHG. According to histopathology, each of the biopsies obtained yielded multiple histopathological findings H. pylori was found in 88% of the patients, followed by Gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE) (56%) then PHG and gastritis (54 %). Only H. pylori correlated with the presence of PHG. Conclusion: Biopsy is recommended in cirrhotic patients during endoscopy to tailor treatment accordingly. In PHG, H. pylori treatment is recommended to decrease chances of bleeding.