Management of small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis: Focus on portal hypertension

Table 2 Randomized controlled trials comparing surgical resection and percutaneous ablation in patients with early hepatocellular carcinoma

Ref.	Treatment allocation	Sample size (n)	Serum bilirubin	Tumor median size	Nodules	Median follow-up	Recurrence rate	1/3/5 yr survival
Chen et al[17]	Multidisciplinary team of doctors	90 (resection)	> 2 mg/dL (33%)	< 3 cm (52%)	Single (100%)	NR	NR	94%/68%/NR
		71 (ablation)	> 2 mg/dL (26%)	< 3 cm (46%)	Single (100%)	NR	NR	93%/73%/NR
Huang et al[66]	Consecutive enrolment	38 (ablation)	NR	≤ 2 cm (55%)/2-3 cm (45%)	Single (79%)	37.7 ± 14.5	47%	100%/95%/92%
		38 (resection)	NR	≤ 2 cm (63%)/2-3 cm (37%)	Single (89%)	38.4 ± 16.4	39%	97%/89%/87%
Huang et al[67]	Consecutive enrolment	115 (ablation)	15.3 ± 4.6 μmol/L	≤ 3 cm (49%)	Single (73%)	NR	63%	86.9%/69.6%/54.78%
		115 (resection)	16.4 ± 5.3 μmol/L	≤ 3 cm (39%)	Single (84%)	NR	41%	98.26%/92.17%/75.6%
Feng et al[68]	Consecutive enrolment	84 (ablation)	17.2 μmol/L	≤ 2 cm (37%)/> 2 cm and < 4 cm (63%)	Single (57%)	NR	42%	96%/87.6%/NR
		84 (resection)	15.1 μmol/L	≤ 2 cm (30%)/> 2 cm and < 4 cm (46%)	Single (62%)	NR	32%	93.1%/83.1%/NR

NR: Not reported.