©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. May 7, 2017; 23(17): 3111-3121
Published online May 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i17.3111
Published online May 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i17.3111
Rate of local tumor progression following radiofrequency ablation of pathologically early hepatocellular carcinoma
Yoshiteru Hao, Kazushi Numata, Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroyuki Fukuda, Katsuaki Tanaka, Gastroenterological Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Kanagawa 232-0024, Japan
Shin Maeda, Division of Gastroenterology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0004, Japan
Masayuki Nakano, Pathological Department, Shonan Fujisawa Tokusyukai Hospital, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251-0041, Japan
Author contributions: Hao Y designed and performed the research and wrote the article; Numata K designed the research and supervised the report; Ishii T, Fukuda H, Maeda S and Nakano M provided clinical advice; Tanaka K supervised the report.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Yokohama City University Medical Center.
Informed consent statement: All the patients included in this study provided written informed consent for the use of their clinical data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Correspondence to: Kazushi Numata, MD, Gastroenterological Center, Yokohama City University Medical Center, 4-57 Urafune-cho, Minami-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 232-0024, Japan. kz-numa@urahp.yokohama-cu.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-45-261-5656 Fax: +81-45-261-9492
Received: December 21, 2016
Peer-review started: December 23, 2016
First decision: January 10, 2017
Revised: February 8, 2017
Accepted: March 31, 2017
Article in press: March 31, 2017
Published online: May 7, 2017
Processing time: 136 Days and 8.3 Hours
Peer-review started: December 23, 2016
First decision: January 10, 2017
Revised: February 8, 2017
Accepted: March 31, 2017
Article in press: March 31, 2017
Published online: May 7, 2017
Processing time: 136 Days and 8.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: This retrospective study evaluated whether pathologically early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) exhibited local tumor progression after radiofrequency ablation (RFA) less often than typical HCC. Among the 50 pathologically early HCCs, 49 (98%) of the nodules did not exhibit local tumor progression. However, 1 nodule (2%) was associated with a local tumor progression found 636 d after RFA. Among the 187 typical HCCs, 46 (24.6%) of the nodules exhibited local tumor progression after RFA. Pathologically early HCC was significantly associated with a lower rate of local tumor progression, compared with typical HCC, when evaluated using a log-rank test (P = 0.002).