Laparoscopic Hepatic Resection Versus Laparoscopic Radiofrequency Ablation for Subcapsular Hepatocellular Carcinomas Smaller Than 3 cm: Analysis of Treatment Outcomes Using Propensity Score Matching
Seong Eun Ko, Min Woo Lee, Soohyun Ahn, Hyunchul Rhim, Tae Wook Kang, Kyoung Doo Song, Jong Man Kim, Gyu‐Seong Choi, Dong Ik, Ji Hye Min, Dong Hyun Sinn, Moon Seok Choi, Hyo Keun Lim
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To compare the therapeutic outcomes of laparoscopic hepatic resection (LHR) and laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (LRFA) for single subcapsular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We screened 244 consecutive patients who had received either LHR or LRFA between January 2014 and December 2016. The feasibility of LRFA in patients who underwent LHR was retrospectively assessed by two interventional radiologists. Finally, 60 LRFA-feasible patients who had received LHR and 29 patients who had received LRFA as the first treatment for a solitary subcapsular HCC between 1 cm and 3 cm were finally included. We compared the therapeutic outcomes, including local tumor progression (LTP), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) between the two groups before and after propensity score (PS) matching. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression was also used to evaluate the difference in OS and RFS between the two groups for all 89 patients. RESULTS: = 0.102). CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in therapeutic outcomes between LHR and LRFA for single subcapsular HCCs measuring 1-3 cm. The difference in RFS should be further evaluated in a larger study.