Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 29, 2025
Application of Laparoscopic Hepatectomy Combined with Intraoperative Microwave Ablation in Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis
Published on: March 3, 2023
Percutaneous microwave ablation versus robot-assisted hepatectomy for early hepatocellular carcinoma: A real-world
Wenzhen Ding1, Jie Yu1, Fangyi Liu1
1Department of Interventional Ultrasound, The First Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Address:28 Fuxing Road, Beijing, 100853 China.
Background:
Both microwave ablation and robot-assisted hepatectomy are representative minimally invasive treatments for early hepatocellular carcinoma. Our study compares the practicability and medium-term therapeutic efficacy between them.
Methods:
Patients with early HCC treated by MWA or RH from 2013 to 2019 were included. Propensity score matching (PSM) and inverse probability of treatment weight (IPTW) were used to minimize baseline imbalance. Operation trauma, postoperative recovery, complications, cost and oncological efficacy were compared.
Results:
401 patients with a median follow-up of 28 months were included (MWA n = 240; RH n = 161). After PSM, 3-year recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of MWA group and RH group were 52.2% vs 65.8%, 91.5% vs 91.3% and 91.5% vs 91.3%, respectively. OS and CSS were comparable (p = 0.44 and 0.96), while RFS of MWA was slightly lower but not significant (p = 0.097). The above results after IPTW followed the same trend. After PSM, MWA showed advantages in operation time and blood loss, while RH performed better in postoperative liver function. There was no significant difference in incidence of severe complications between two groups.
Conclusions:
For early HCC parents, both treatments can achieve good, safe and comparable medium-term therapeutic effects. MWA is more minimally invasive, while RH has better accuracy and causes less damage to liver parenchyma.
