Long-Term Outcome of Percutaneous Ablation in Very Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Treatment of very early-stage HCC using a multimodal strategy tailored to tumor characteristics achieves equivalent initial CR rates and long-term survival rates compared to surgical resection.

Percutaneous thermal ablation for primary hepatocellular carcinoma: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The 10 included studies comprised one RCT, 14 eight retrospective observational studies, 15,16,[29][30][31][32][33][34] and one non-randomized prospective comparison trial. 17 Study characteristics are detailed in Table 1.…”

Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review

“…The presence of satellite nodules and platelet counts <150,000/μl are independently associated with survival, whereas the presence of satellite nodules and cirrhosis and the use of nonanatomic resection are independently associated with tumor recurrence [10]. Percutaneous ablation can achieve an acceptable outcome for very earlystage HCC: a 5-year disease-free survival rate of 62% and a 5-year overall survival rate of 78% [11]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) leads to better overall survival in patients with operable HCC than in those with inoperable HCC.…”

Image-Guided Therapies for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Hepatocelluar Carcinoma — Future Outlook

“…Livraghi and colleagues [19] reported a complete response rate of 97.2% and a 5-year survival rate of 68% in 218 patients with very early-stage HCC treated using RFA. In another recent study [39] of 83 patients with very early HCC who were treated using different modalities of percutaneous ablation (33 PEI, 19 MW, and 31 RFA), the complete response rate was 95%, and the 5-year survival rate was 78%. Therefore, RFA is suggested by some authors as first-line therapy for very early-stage HCC, and surgical resection is reserved for when individual patient variables render RFA unfeasible or unsafe [40].…”