Surgical resection versus radiofrequency ablation for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer very early stage hepatocellular carcinoma: long-term results of a single-center study

We aimed to compare long-term outcomes of surgical resection (SR) and percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) very early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Total of 387 patients (SR group, 156; RFA group, 231) with well-preserved liver function (Child-Pugh A) diagnosed with a solitary HCC less than 2 cm were included. The overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were compared.The median follow-up period was 39 months. The overall tumor recurrence rate was 16.7% in the SR group and 27.7% in the RFA group. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 100%, 97.2%, and 93.4%, respectively, in the SR group, compared with 100%, 88.6%, and 73.5%, respectively, in the RFA group (P < 0.001). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year RFS rates were 94.6%, 84.1%, and 78.3%, respectively, in the SR group, and 87.7%, 62.1%, and 46.8%, respectively, in the RFA group (P < 0.001).Surgical resection provides better OS and RFS compared with percutaneous RFA for patients with BCLC very early HCC in long-term follow-up.