Thermal ablation in colorectal liver metastases: Lack of evidence or lack of capability to prove the evidence?

Table 1 Thermal ablation in colorectal liver metastases: When the evidence can not be very evident

Phase III RCT	Compared arms	Status of RCT	Results
French FFCD 2002-02	Surgical resection vs RFA	Closed because of non accrual	Not published
United States Nat Surg Adj Br Bow trial	CT + HAI vs CT + Resection or RFA	Closed because of non accrual	Not published
CLOCC (median FU 4.4 yr)[22]	CT vs CT + RFA	Downscaled to Phase II trial because of slow accrual	OS: P = 0.22
			PFS: P = 0.025 in favour of CT + RFA
CLOCC (median FU 9.7 yr)[26]	CT vs CT + RFA	FU in progress	OS: P = 0.01 in favour of CT + RFA

RCT: Randomized controlled trials; RFA: Radiofrequency ablation; CT: Systemic chemotherapy; HAI: Hepatic arterial infusion; OS: Overall survival; PFS: Progression free survival.