Percutaneous Local Ablation Therapy in Small Hepatocellular

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of themost prevalent malignant diseases in Asia.(1,2) Notably, the incidence of this condition is strongly correlated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.(3) Over 80 % of HCC devel-ops in patients with cirrhosis.(4) The prognosis of patients with HCC depends mainly on tumor size, tumor number and hepatic function.(5) Because most patients with HCC present too late for effective treatment, early detection of small HCC is crucial for improving survival. Small HCC is generally defined as three or fewer tumors, where the longest dimension of individual tumor is less than 3 cm. Periodic screening using combined alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) and sonography examinations can detect HCCs of 1cm and above. Various treatment options are available. Surgical resection may be effective in selected patients with single small tumor, but fewer than 20 % of patients are candidates for surgery.(6) Additionally, surgical resection leaves th