Laparoscopic resection vs laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of small hepatocellular carcinomas: A single-center analysis

Table 1 Patient characteristics, etiology of liver cirrhosis, Child-Pugh class, and post-operative parameters grouped for laparoscopic procedure n (%)

Variables	LLR	LRFA	P value
	(n = 24)	(n = 22)
Patient-related characteristics
Sex (F/M)	8/16	4/18	NS
Age (yr)	63.58 ± 9.55	60.82 ± 7.25	NS
Etiology of liver cirrhosis
HCV-related	11 (45.8)	8 (36.4)	NS
HBV-related	6 (25)	8 (36.4)	NS
Alcoholic	6 (25)	3 (13.6)	NS
Mixte	1 (4.2)	0 (0)	NS
Other	0 (0)	2 (9.1)	NS
Child-Pugh class
Child A	22 (91.7)	12 (54.5)	0.007
Child B	2 (8.3)	6 (27.3)	NS
Child C	0 (0)	2 (9.1)	NS
Unknown	0 (0)	2 (9.1)	NS
Post-operative parameters
Single tumour	20 (83.3)	6 (27.3)	< 0.001
Multiple tumours	4 (16.6)	16 (72.7)	< 0.001
Treated nodules/patient	1.41 ± 0.77	2.72 ± 1.54	< 0.001
Tumour diameter (mm)	33.0 ± 13.83	26.25 ± 13.13	NS
Follow-up (mo)	44.74 ± 21.30	40.27 ± 30.89	NS
Intrahepatic recurrence	16 (66.7)	15 (68.2)	NS
Local recurrence	5 (20.9)	8 (36.4)	NS
Recurrence IT (mo)	25.53 ± 19.11	22.88 ± 30.62	NS

LLR: Laparoscopic liver resection; LRFA: Laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; HBV: Hepatitis B virus; IT: Interval time; NS: Not significant.

Table 2 Cox proportional hazard regression for overall survival and disease-free survival

Variables	β	HR (95%CI)	P value
Overall survival
Treatment (LRFA)	0.812	2.252 (0.983-5.156)	NS
Sex (Male)	0.073	1.076 (0.426-2.717)	NS
Age	0.008	1.008 (0.961-1.059)	NS
Diagnosis (HCV)	0.828	2.288 (0.624-8.382)	NS
Preop TACE (Yes)	0.500	1.649 (0.737-3.689)	NS
No. intraop. nodules	0.800	2.225 (1.594-3.108)	< 0.001
Local recurrence (Yes)	-0.014	0.985 (0.414-2.345)	NS
Dist. recurrence (Yes)	1.543	4.680 (0.618-35.440)	NS
Disease-free survival
Treatment (LRFA)	0.464	1.590 (0.771-3.282)	NS
Sex (Male)	0.587	1.798 (0.732-4.422)	NS
Age	-0.019	0.980 (0.939-1.024)	NS
Diagnosis (HCV)	-0.300	0.740 (0.275-1.993)	NS
Preop TACE (Yes)	0.125	1.133 (0.549-2.340)	NS
No. intraop. nodules	0.216	1.241 (0.946-1.628)	NS

The square brackets show the target code selected for each categorical variable. β: Regression coefficient; LRFA: Laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; TACE: Transarterial chemoembolization; NS: Not significant.