Key clinical point: Over a median follow-up of 36.7 months, safety and efficacy based on complications and rates of overall survival were not significantly different between hepatocellular carcinoma patients treated with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and those treated with microwave ablation (MWA).
Major finding: Cumulative overall survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 97.9%, 92.3%, and 80.6%, respectively, for MWA patients and 96.4%, 87.4%, and 78.2%, respectively, for RFA patients ( P = 0.450). Major complication rates also were similar between the two groups (3.3% vs. 3.9%).
Study details: The data come from a retrospective study of 201 consecutive adult patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent either radiofrequency ablation (150 patients) or microwave ablation (51 patients) at a single center between January 2012 and December 2016.
Disclosures: The study was supported by the Guangzhou Science and Technology Program and the Innovative Research Group Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.
Source: Han X et al. Abdom Radiol. 2021 May 25. doi: 10.1007/s00261-021-03105-9.