Zhou SQ, Ke QH. Letter to the Editor: Multibipolar radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma - a superior thermal ablation technique or a reflection of operator excellence? World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(10): 123172 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.123172]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Qing-Hua Ke, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Chemoradiotherapy, Jingzhou First People’s Hospital, No. 10 Tianhu Road, Shashi District, Jingzhou 434000, Hubei Province, China. 3803354759@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
letter
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
Share the Article
Zhou SQ, Ke QH. Letter to the Editor: Multibipolar radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma - a superior thermal ablation technique or a reflection of operator excellence? World J Gastrointest Oncol 2026; 18(10): 123172 [DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.123172]
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2026; 18(10): 123172 Published online Oct 15, 2026. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.123172
Letter to the Editor: Multibipolar radiofrequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma - a superior thermal ablation technique or a reflection of operator excellence?
Shi-Qiong Zhou, Qing-Hua Ke
Shi-Qiong Zhou, Qing-Hua Ke, Department of Chemoradiotherapy, Jingzhou First People’s Hospital, Jingzhou 434000, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Ke QH and Zhou SQ contributed to conceptualization, writing-original draft, review and editing, supervision.
AI contribution statement: Limited auxiliary AI tools were used only for basic grammatical correction and linguistic refinement. No large language models such as ChatGPT, DeepL were applied for full-text writing or content creation. No part of the main text, including Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion, was fully or partially AI-generated. All core academic content was independently written by the authors. Individual AI tools were used merely for minor language polishing and grammatical adjustment to improve readability. No AI-based translation, data analysis or manuscript drafting assistance was involved.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Qing-Hua Ke, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Chemoradiotherapy, Jingzhou First People’s Hospital, No. 10 Tianhu Road, Shashi District, Jingzhou 434000, Hubei Province, China. 3803354759@qq.com
Received: May 12, 2026 Revised: July 6, 2026 Accepted: July 16, 2026 Published online: October 15, 2026 Processing time: 131 Days and 6.6 Hours
Abstract
This correspondence critically reassesses Bahloul et al’s comparison of multibipolar radiofrequency ablation (mbp-RFA) vs microwave ablation (MWA) for hepatocellular carcinoma. While mbp-RFA showed lower local tumor progression (11.4% vs 25.2%), we argue that the near-collinear allocation of techniques across institutions, marked differences in operator experience (303 vs 107 months), and unmeasured peritumoral fibrosis likely confound the results. The MWA outcomes appear below contemporary high-power series, raising generalizability concerns. We contend that the findings reflect institutional expertise and precision execution rather than inherent technical superiority of mbp-RFA. Rigorous prospective trials incorporating peritumoral tissue characterization and ablation margin assessment are needed before abandoning simpler, faster MWA.
Core Tip: The study by Bahloul et al suggests that multibipolar radiofrequency ablation may achieve better local control than microwave ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma, particularly in tumors ≥ 3 cm. However, significant confounders, such as operator experience and institutional variation, limit causal interpretation. Rather than confirming technical superiority, these findings underscore the importance of procedural expertise, tumor biology, and ablation precision. Future research should focus on randomized trials, peritumoral tissue characterization, and standardized quality metrics to guide personalized treatment selection.
