BACKGROUND The goal of this study was to compare the postoperative results of liver resection and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (3-5 cm). PATIENTS AND METHODS We retrospectively collected 122 cases of small solitary HCC treated at our center from Jan 2011 to Dec 2015, with diameters in the range of 3-5 cm. According to the treatment program received at our center, the patients were divided into liver resection (72 patients) and RFA (50 patients) groups. RESULT In comparison with the RFA group, the resection group had a longer operative time, greater intraoperative blood loss (P < 0.01), more hepatic inflow occlusion, and a longer postoperative hospital stay (P < 0.01). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year expected overall survival rates and tumor-free survival rates were comparable between the two groups. Cox regression analysis showed that neither resection nor RFA was a significant risk factor for overall or tumor-free survival in HCC. CONCLUSIONS For solitary HCC of 3-5 cm in diameter, RFA can achieve better in-hospital clinical results and similar long-term outcomes than resection and can be considered for wide application, especially for central-location cases.

中文翻译：

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开放性肝切除术与RFA治疗孤立性3-5-cm肝细胞癌的比较：一项回顾性研究。

背景技术这项研究的目的是比较肝切除术和射频消融术（RFA）治疗小肝细胞癌（HCC）（3-5 cm）的术后结果。患者与方法我们回顾性收集了2011年1月至2015年12月在我们中心接受治疗的122例小直径HCC的病例，直径在3-5 cm之间。根据我们中心接受的治疗方案，将患者分为肝切除术（72例）和射频消融术（50例）。结果与RFA组相比，切除组手术时间更长，术中失血量更大（P <0.01），肝血流闭塞更多，术后住院时间更长（P <0.01）。1、3，两组的5年预期总体生存率和无肿瘤生存率相当。Cox回归分析表明，切除或RFA都不是HCC总体生存或无肿瘤生存的重要危险因素。结论对于直径3-5 cm的孤立性HCC，RFA可以获得比切除术更好的住院临床结果和相似的长期结果，可以考虑广泛应用，尤其是对于中心位置病例。