Surgical resection vs. percutaneous ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma: A preliminary report of the Japanese nationwide survey

Background/Aims The treatment of choice for HCC remains controversial. We evaluated the therapeutic impact of surgical resection, PEI, and RFA for HCC on outcomes. Methods A database derived from a Japanese nationwide survey of 17,149 patients with HCC treated by resection, PEI, or RFA between 2000 and 2003 was used to identify 7185 patients with no more than 3 tumors ( 3 cm) and a liver function of Child-Pugh class A or B. The patients classified into either a resection (n = 2857), RFA (n = 3022), or PEI group (n = 1306) and their long-term outcomes were compared. Results The median follow-up period was 10.4 months. The 2-year time-to-recurrence rate was 35.5%, 55.4%, and 73.3% in the resection, RFA, and PEI groups, respectively, while the number of recurrences was 2410, 2368, and 862. Although the number of deaths was 55 (1.9%), 49 (1.6%), and 39 (3.0%), the overall survival rates were not different. In a multivariate analysis, surgical resection was a significant negative factor for recurrence as compared with RFA (relative risk, 0.62 [95% confidence interval, 0.54–0.71], P < 0.0001) and PEI (0.45 [0.38–0.52], P < 0.0001). Conclusions This preliminary report suggested that surgical resection may provide less time-to-recurrence rate than either RFA or PEI in patients with HCC.