Comparison of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization, laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation, and conservative treatment for decompensated cirrhotic patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Demographic data

	LRFA	TACE	Conservative
			treatment
No. of patients	40	20	40
Age (years)	66.5 ± 9.5	65.0 ± 7.9	69.0 ± 5.7
Sex (male/female)	35/5	17/3	32/8
Etiology (HBV/HCV)	29/11	11/9	26/14
Child-Pugh class B/C	28/12	17/3	22/18
AFP > 400 ng/ml	22	13	25
Portal vein thrombosis	0	0	12
Tumor diameter (cm):	3.2 ± 1.0a	6.8 ± 3.7a	6.5 ± 3.1
—in TNM stage	3.4 ± 0.8 (37)	3.7 ± 1.0 (9)	3.6 ± 0.9 (10)
II tumorsb
TNM stage I tumors	3	0	0
TNM stage II tumors	37	9	10
Child grade C in	11/37	1/9	4/10
TMN stage II tumors
—in stage III tumors	0	11	14
—in stage IV tumors	0	0	16
Mean follow up (months and ranges)	12.5 (3–30)	11.3 (2.5–29)	10.5 (3.1–30)

^aMean tumor diameter in the LRFA group was significantly smaller than that in the TACE group (P < 0.05).

^bTNM stage was allocated according to the 1998 modified edition[13].

Table 2 Comparison between LRFA and TACE treatment groups in mortality, complication, and recurrence rates

	LRFA		TACE		P value
	(n = 40)		(n = 20)
One-month mortalitya	1	(2.5%)	1	(5%)
Major complications: total	7	(17.5%)	9	(45%)	< 0.05
Hepatic failureb	3		3
Pulmonary embolism	0		1
Stroke	0		1
UGIc bleeding	2		2
Pneumonia	1		0
Refractory ascites	1		2
Minor complications: total	7	(17.5%)	7	(35%)
Pneumothorax	3		0
Wound infection	2		0
Burns	2		0
Post embolization syndromed	0		7
Local recurrence rate
One year	12		7
Two years	19		11

^aOne-month mortality,

^bHepatic failure: readmission due to chronic hepatic failure within three months after procedure,

^cUGI: upper gastrointestinal tract.

^dPost embolization syn-dromes included fever, pain, nausea, vomiting, leukocytosis and adynamic ileus.