Comparison of no-touch multi-bipolar vs. monopolar radiofrequency ablation for small HCC

[Display omitted] The primary aim of this study was to compare the rate of global radiofrequency ablation (RFA) failure between monopolar RFA (MonoRFA) vs. no-touch multi-bipolar RFA (NTmbpRFA) for small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ⩽5cm in cirrhotic patients. A total of 362 cirrhotic patients were included retrospectively across four French centres (181 per treatment group). Global RFA failure (primary RFA failure or local tumour progression) was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method after coarsened exact matching. Cox regression models were used to identify factors associated with global RFA failure and overall survival (OS). Patients were well matched according to tumour size (⩽30/>30mm); tumour number (one/several); tumour location (subcapsular and near large vessel); serum AFP (100ng/ml); Child-Pugh score (A/B) and platelet count (