TY - JOUR T1 - The (Eternal) Debate on Microwave Ablation <em>Versus</em> Radiofrequency Ablation in BCLC-A Hepatocellular Carcinoma JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 3421 LP - 3429 DO - 10.21873/invivo.12181 VL - 34 IS - 6 AU - ANGELA DALIA RICCI AU - ALESSANDRO RIZZO AU - CHIARA BONUCCI AU - SIMONA TAVOLARI AU - ANDREA PALLONI AU - GIORGIO FREGA AU - VERONICA MOLLICA AU - NASTASSJA TOBER AU - ELENA MAZZOTTA AU - CRISTINA FELICANI AU - CARLA SERRA AU - GIOVANNI BRANDI Y1 - 2020/11/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/34/6/3421.abstract N2 - Background/Aim: While percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is considered the standard ablative modality for the treatment of early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) is being increasingly used in recent years. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare percutaneous MWA versus percutaneous RFA in BCLC-A HCC across randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Patients and Methods: Eligible studies included RCTs assessing MWA versus RFA in BCLC-A HCC. Outcomes of interest included: complete ablation (CA) rate, local recurrence (LR) rate, 1-year overall survival (OS) rate, 3-year OS rate and major complications rate. Results: We retrieved all the relevant RCTs through PubMed/Medline, Cochrane library and EMBASE; five eligible studies involving a total of 794 patients (MWA: 409; RFA: 385) and 1008 nodules of HCC (MWA: 519; RFA: 489) were included in our analysis. No significant differences were found between MWA and RFA regarding CA, LR, 3-year OS and major complications rate. Regarding 1-year OS, a higher rate was observed in the MWA group. Conclusion: MWA and RFA are effective and safe techniques in early stage, BCLC-A, HCCMWA resulted in better 1-year OS, although this benefit was not confirmed in the 3-year analysis. ER -