Surgery or Radiofrequency Ablation for Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Insights from the SURF Trials

Large, multicenter randomized and observational trials evaluated surgery versus RFA for small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
No statistically significant difference in 5-year overall survival (OS) or recurrence-free survival (RFS) between surgery and RFA.
RFA demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no serious adverse events, compared to 3.3% in the surgery group.
The findings support RFA as an effective, less invasive alternative to surgery for selected small HCC cases.

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For clinical reference; use professional judgment.