Meta-Analysis
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2023; 15(2): 258-272
Published online Feb 27, 2023. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v15.i2.258
Network meta-analysis of the prognosis of curative treatment strategies for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy
Jen-Lung Chen, Yaw-Sen Chen, Chen-Guo Ker
Jen-Lung Chen, Chen-Guo Ker, Department of General Surgery, E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan
Yaw-Sen Chen, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan
Author contributions: Chen JL contributed to the research design, analysis, and manuscript revision; Chen YS contributed to the interpretation and conception; Ker CG contributed to the search and evaluation, analysis, and manuscript preparation.
Supported by the Research Fund from E-Da Hospital, No. EDAHS110012.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement.
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: Chen-Guo Ker, FACS, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of General Surgery, E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University, Yi-Da Road, Jian-Su Village, Yan-Chio District, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan. ed112739@edah.org.tw
Received: September 26, 2022
Peer-review started: September 26, 2022
First decision: November 15, 2022
Revised: November 28, 2022
Accepted: January 16, 2023
Article in press: January 16, 2023
Published online: February 27, 2023
Processing time: 154 Days and 6.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Network meta-analysis was used to compare treatments for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma including repeated hepatectomy, radiofrequency ablation, transarterial chemoembolization, and liver transplantation. Thirty articles published from 2012-2021 were included in the analysis. Disease-free survival and overall survival were compared using forest plot analysis and hierarchic step diagram of subgroups by the Wald test, forest plot analysis, and predictive P score for subgroup analysis. Repeated hepatectomy or liver transplantation had better disease-free survival and overall survival compared to the others based on the testing methods from this network meta-analysis.