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HOME > J Liver Cancer > Volume 15(1); 2015 > Article
Original Article Transarterial Chemoembolization versus Radiofrequency Ablation for Small Hepatocellular Carcinomas with Discrepant Features on Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Young Youn Cho1, Jung Hee Kwon1, Jeong-Hoon Lee1, Jeong Min Lee2, Jae Young Lee2, Hyo-Choel Kim2, Jin Wook Chung2, Won-mook Choi1, Eun Ju Cho1, Yoon Jun Kim1, Jung-Hwan Yoon1, Chung Yong Kim1, Hyo-Suk Lee1
Journal of Liver Cancer 2015;15(1):19-29
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17998/jlc.15.1.19
Published online: March 31, 2015
1Department of Internal Medicine and Liver Research Institute Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
2Department of Radiology,Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
Corresponding author:  Jeong-Hoon Lee,
Email: pindra@empal.com
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Background/Aim
s: This study compared the outcomes of patients with small hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) who were treated using transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) or radiofrequency ablation (RFA).
Methods
This was a post-hoc analysis of a prospective study that evaluated the diagnostic efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT). We analyzed 41 small hepatic nodules in 32 patients that showed typical radiologic hallmarks on both CT and gadoxate-enhanced MRI (typical nodules) and 25 small hepatic nodules from 22 patients that showed atypical radiologic hallmarks on CT and typical radiologic hallmarks on MRI (discrepant nodules).
Results
There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics of the patients with typical and discrepant nodules. Complete response rates 1 month after TACE or RFA were 75.0% (18/24) and 94.1% (16/17; P=0.20), respectively, for the patients with typical nodules and 58.8% (10/17) and 100% (8/8; P=0.05), respectively, for the patients with discrepant nodules. Treatment failure rates after TACE or RFA were 33.3% (8/24) and 5.8% (1/17; P=0.15), respectively, for the patients with typical nodules and 47.0% (8/17) and 0.0% (0/8; P=0.02), respectively, for the patients with discrepant nodules. Among patients achieving complete response, there were no significant differences in the risk of marginal recurrence.
Conclusions
RFA provided higher complete response rates and significantly lower treatment failure rates than TACE for patients with discrepant nodules of HCC. Therefore, a treatment modality such as RFA may be preferable for small HCCs which show discrepancy on two imaging modalities.

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JLC : Journal of Liver Cancer