Does Radiofrequency Ablation Stimulate a Higher Malignant Potential of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

However, to date, it remains under debate which is superior, surgical resection or RFA, with respect to the overall survival and recurrence rates in patients with early HCC [3,4]. A major drawback of RFA is the high rate of tumor recurrence after the therapeutic procedure, which affects the patient survival and is the main reason why RFA is considered to be inferior to surgical resection in cases of resectable lesions [5]. In the aforementioned study from Korea, Kim et al. demonstrated the 5 and 10 year cumulative local tumor recurrence rates to be 27.0 % and 36.9 % respectively, with 5 and 10 year cumulative intrahepatic distant and extrahepatic recurrence rates of 73.1 %/ 88.5 % and 19.1 %/ 38.2 % respectively [2].