Surgery and ablation are comparable for the treatment of solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that is no larger than 3 cm in diameter, according to results published in the Journal of Liver Cancer. Researchers compared the treatment modalities in 2,067 patients with solitary HCC who underwent ablation (n=1,248) or surgery (n=819), categorizing patients based on tumor size. They reported no significant difference in recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS) between surgery and ablation for tumors measuring 2 cm or smaller in diameter and tumors measuring larger than 2 cm but smaller or equal to 3 cm. However, RFS was significantly better with surgery (3.6 years) versus ablation (2.0 years; P=0.0297) for tumors that measured between 3 and 5 cm. In HCC measuring 3 to 5 cm, OS was not different between treatments, indicating that ablation and less invasive therapy can be considered as treatment options. “However, special caution should be taken to prevent recurrence,” the researchers wrote.
