Rate of local tumor progression following radiofrequency ablation of pathologically early hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 3 Frequency of local tumor progression classified into two groups according to ablative margin for early hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 50) and typical hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 187)

	AM 0 to < 5 mm	AM ≥ 5 mm
Local tumor progression
eHCC	2.5% (1/40)	0% (0/10)
tHCC	27.5% (44/160)	7.4% (2/27)
P value1	0.01	NS

¹Comparison between percentage of each classification of eHCC and tHCC according to Fisher’s exact test. AM 0 to < 5 mm: thinnest AM equal to 0 mm or more and less than 5 mm; AM ≥ 5 mm: thinnest AM equal to 5 mm or more. AM: Ablative margin; eHCC: Early hepatocellular carcinoma; NS: Not significant; tHCC: Typical hepatocellular carcinoma.