ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the short-term and long-term effectiveness of radiofrequency ablation combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods The clinical data of 70 HCC patients who had received thermal ablation (group A) done or in combination with TACE (group B) were retrospectively analyzed.Results The rate of intrahepatic distant recurrence in group B (25 cases) was lower than that in group A (45 cases) (X2 =3.845,P =0.046) and the tumor-free survival rate was higher than group A (X2 =5.020,P =O.030).There were no differences in the local tumor progression rate (X2 =0.853,P =0.374) and overall survival (x2 =2.316,P =0.154) between two groups.Incidence of bone marrow suppression in group B was higher than that of group A (X2 =5.642,P =0.042).Major complications didn't occur in any group(X2 =2.016,P =0.183).The costs was higher(t =7.738,P ＜0.001) and the hospital stay was longer (t =5.921,P =0.003) in group B than group A.Conclusions Compared with ablation alone,combined therapy is able to reduce short-term recurrence,and improve tumor-free survival.Combine therapy is safe and effective method for small liver carcinoma.