Background: Hepatic cancer is the third common cause of cancer worldwide, and is the leading common type of deaths due to cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of radiofrequency ablation for hepatic cancer, and the important risk factors that affect the outcome.

Methodes: We enrolled 168 patients diagnosed with a single carcinoma (diameter ≤5 cm); 121 patients presenting with esophageal varices (EV) and 47 patients without EV, who underwent radiofrequency ablation as treatment. Logistic regression analyses of risk factors for the occurrence of complications and multivariate coxregression analyses for overall survival were performed.

Results:

Complete ablation was achieved in 107 hepatic cancer (88.4%) of patients presenting with EV, and in 38 hepatic cancer (80.9%) of patients presenting without EV, left lobe lesion (P = 0.01), decreased in platelet count (P = 0.02), and decreased in prothrombin concentration (P= 0.02) are independent factors for RF ablation complication, after 24 months follow up period, the difference in survival between these two risk groups was insignificant (P = 0.097)

Conclusion: This study showed that most patients with hepatic cancer with EV can tolerate RF ablation, and four factors were recognized to affect the outcome of RF ablation and survival rate.