Thermal Ablation versus Surgical Resection for the Treatment of Stage T1 Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Database Population

There was no difference in overall or disease-specific survival between surgical resection and thermal ablation for T1 HCCs ≤ 4 cm after adjusting for the presence of histologic fibrosis and tumor size in the SEER cohort. Significant benefit was observed with surgery for tumors measuring 4.1-5 cm.