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World J Hepatol. Apr 27, 2023; 15(4): 515-524
Published online Apr 27, 2023. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v15.i4.515
Ablative strategies for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma
Lin Wang, Bao-Xian Liu, Hai-Yi Long
Lin Wang, Bao-Xian Liu, Hai-Yi Long, Department of Medical Ultrasound, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Wang L was involved in the review design and drafting of the manuscript; Liu BX were involved in the critical revision of the manuscript; Long HY was involved in the review design and critical revision of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hai-Yi Long, MD, Doctor, Department of Medical Ultrasound, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 58 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, China. longhy9@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Received: October 26, 2022
Peer-review started: October 26, 2022
First decision: November 26, 2022
Revised: February 14, 2023
Accepted: March 29, 2023
Article in press: March 29, 2023
Published online: April 27, 2023
Processing time: 175 Days and 19 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Despite the tremendous efforts in the fight against hepatocellular carcinoma, there is still no way to prevent its recurrence. Intrahepatic recurrence can be treated by repeated resection and ablation, and there are many studies showing the advantages and disadvantages of each treatment method. For tumors ≤ 3 cm in diameter, there is no significant difference between surgery resection and radiofrequency/microwave ablation treatment. Non-thermal ablation treatment has clearer borders but a higher postoperative recurrence rate. Percutaneous ethanol injection has comparable efficacy to radiofrequency ablation for small tumors. Multiple recurrences require combined systemic therapy.