Laparoscopic-Assisted Microwave Ablation in Treatment of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Safety and Efficacy in Comparison With Laparoscopic Hepatectomy

Abstract Laparoscopic-assisted microwave ablation (LAMWA), as one of the locoregional therapies, has been employed to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of LAMWA and laparoscopic hepatectomy in the treatment of small HCC.This study included 140 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 68 patients received LAMWA and 72 patients underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy. The perioperative condition, liver function recovery, the alpha fetoprotein (AFP) level, morbidities, hospitalization time, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence rate between the two groups were compared. The rate of complete elimination of tumor tissue was 100% and the AFP level was returned to normal within 3 months in both groups (P > 0.05). The mean alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) peak in the LAMWA group was lower than that in the laparoscopic hepatectomy group (259.51 SD 188.75 VS 388.9 SD 173.65, P = 0.000) and (267.34 SD 190.65 VS 393.1 SD 185.67, P = 0.000), respectively. The mean average operation time in the LAMWA group was shorter than that in the laparoscopic hepatectomy group (89 SD 31min VS 259 SD 48min, P = 0.000). The blood loss in the LAMWA group was less than that in the laparoscopic hepatectomy group (58.4 SD 64.0ml VS 213.0 SD 108.2ml, P = 0.000). Compared with the laparoscopic hepatectomy group, patients in the LAMWA group had few periods of hospital stay (4.8 SD 1.2d VS 11.5 SD 2.9d, P = 0.000). The morbidities of the LAMWA group and the hepatectomy group were 14.7%(10/68) and 34.7༅(25/72), respectively (P = 0.006)༎The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 88.2%, 69.9%, 45.6% for the LAMWA group and 86.1%, 72.9%, 51.4% for the laparoscopic hepatectomy group (P = 0.693). The corresponding DFS rates for the two groups were 76.3%, 48.1%, 27.9% and 73.2%, 56.7%, 32.0% (P = 0.958). Laparoscopic-assisted microwave ablation is a safe and effective therapeutic option for selected small HCC.