Midterm Outcomes in Patients With Intermediate-Sized Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Randomized Controlled Trial for Determining the Efficacy of Radiofrequency Ablation Combined With Transcatheter Arterial Chemoembolization

To improve the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for the treatment of intermediate-sized hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), the authors compared RFA combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) to RFA alone. The authors randomly assigned 37 patients with solitary HCCs (diameter, 3.1-5.0 cm in the greatest dimension) to 2 groups: the TACE-RFA group, in which the patients received TACE followed by RFA on the same day, and the RFA group, in which the patients received only RFA. Technical success was achieved after 1.4±0.5 RFA sessions in the RFA group and after 1.1±0.2 RFA sessions in the TACE-RFA group (P