Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2010 Jul 21;16(27):3450-6.
doi: 10.3748/wjg.v16.i27.3450.

Radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta analysis

Jun-Guo Liu  1 , Yi-Jun Wang, Zhi Du
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma: a meta analysis

Jun-Guo Liu et al. World J Gastroenterol. .

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate survival and recurrence after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using a meta-analysis.

Methods: Literature on RFA vs surgical resection for the treatment of small HCC published between January 1990 and December 2008 was retrieved. A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate pooled survival and recurrence ratios. A fixed or random effect model was established to collect the data.

Results: The differences in overall survival at 1-year, 3-years and at end of follow-up were not statistically significant between the RFA and surgery groups (P > 0.05). There were no differences in 1-year and 3-year recurrences between the RFA and surgery groups (P > 0.05). However, recurrence in the RFA group was lower than that in the surgery group up to the end of follow-up (P = 0.03). Survival was not significantly different. There was a significant difference in recurrences at the end of follow-up after RFA compared with surgical resection.

Conclusion: RFA did not decrease the number of overall recurrences, and had no effect on survival when compared with surgical resection in a selected group of patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Fixed effect model of odds ratio for survival during follow-up 1-year after treatment: Radiofrequency ablation vs hepatectomy. RFA: Radiofrequency ablation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Random effect model of odds ratio for survival of follow-up 3-year (A) and at the end of follow-up (B) after treatment: Radiofrequency ablation vs hepatectomy. RFA: Radiofrequency ablation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Random effect model of odds ratio for Recurrence of follow-up 1-year (A) and 3-year (B) and the end of follow-up (C) after treatment: Radiofrequency ablation vs hepatectomy. RFA: Radiofrequency ablation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plots. A: 7 articles in the meta-analysis of survival during follow-up 1-year after treatment; B: 8 articles in the meta-analysis of survival during follow-up 3-years after treatment; C: 9 articles in the meta-analysis of survival up to the end of follow-up; D: 5 articles in the meta-analysis of recurrence during follow-up 1-year after treatment; E: 6 articles in the meta-analysis of recurrence during follow-up 3-years after treatment; F: 8 articles in the meta-analysis of recurrence up to the end of follow-up.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Befeler AS, Di Bisceglie AM. Hepatocellular carcinoma: diagnosis and treatment. Gastroenterology. 2002;122:1609–1619. - PubMed
    1. Livraghi T, Goldberg SN, Lazzaroni S, Meloni F, Solbiati L, Gazelle GS. Small hepatocellular carcinoma: treatment with radio-frequency ablation versus ethanol injection. Radiology. 1999;210:655–661. - PubMed
    1. Livraghi T, Goldberg SN, Lazzaroni S, Meloni F, Ierace T, Solbiati L, Gazelle GS. Hepatocellular carcinoma: radio-frequency ablation of medium and large lesions. Radiology. 2000;214:761–768. - PubMed
    1. Bonny C, Abergel A, Gayard P, Chouzet S, Ughetto S, Slim K, Rosenfeld L, Guillon R, Poincloux L, Bommelaer G. [Radiofrequency ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis] Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 2002;26:735–741. - PubMed
    1. Jiang HC, Liu LX, Piao DX, Xu J, Zheng M, Zhu AL, Qi SY, Zhang WH, Wu LF. Clinical short-term results of radiofrequency ablation in liver cancers. World J Gastroenterol. 2002;8:624–630. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms