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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Application of Laparoscopic Hepatectomy Combined with Intraoperative Microwave Ablation in Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis
Published on: March 3, 2023
Liver resection versus ablation in geriatric populations - Does one method impart improved in-hospital mortality?
Csaba Gajdos1, Carrie Ryan1, Goda Savulionyte1
1Department of Surgery, Buffalo University Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo, USA.
Objectives:
This study aimed to compare surgical resection versus ablation for managing liver malignancies in patients 65 and older.
Material And Methods:
Cases with liver tumors were extracted from the NSQIP database for patients aged ≥65 years. Following propensity score matching, multivariate Cox regression was used for 30-day morbidity and mortality for liver resection and ablation.
Results:
Following a propensity score matching, 1048 patients were 1:1 matched for comorbid conditions. Patients stayed in the hospital three days longer after resection (p<0.001). Mortality was lower after ablation (p= 0.013). This difference was more prominent in patients with primary liver tumors (p= 0.008). Group A had a 10-fold lower risk of developing an abdominal abscess, a fourfold decrease in hospital-associated pneumonia (p= 0.001) and reintubation, a 10-fold reduction in bleeding requiring transfusion (p<0.001), and a three-fold decrease in risk of developing sepsis (p<0.001).
Conclusion:
Despite being a generally sicker patient population with worse underlying liver function, ablative techniques were associated with a lower risk of adverse outcomes when compared to more aggressive resection of primary malignant tumors of the liver.
