Outcomes of radiofrequency ablation as first-line therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma less than 3  cm in potentially transplantable patients

The optimal approach for transplantable patients with early unifocal HCC is unclear. Small HCC (BCLC-0 or A) can be treated with ablation, liver resection, or liver transplantation (LT) as first-line therapies.1 Although the results of LT are excellent, most jurisdictions currently only assign model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) exception points to patients with larger HCC based on the belief that if resection or radiofrequency ablation (RFA) do not work, transplantation can be undertaken as a second curative procedure.

Source: Journal of Hepatology - January 3, 2019 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Adam Doyle, Andre Gorgen, Hala Muaddi, Aloysious D. Aravinthan, Assaf Issachar, Oleg Mironov, Wei Zhang, John Kachura, Robert Beecroft, Sean P. Cleary, Anand Ghanekar, Paul D. Greig, Ian D. McGilvray, Markus Selzner, Mark S. Cattral, David R. Grant, Lesli Tags: Research Article Source Type: research