2%) learn more of 110 showed complete secondary

effectiveness with follow-up CT of 1 year or more. Of 115 tumors with complete primary effectiveness, local tumor progression was identified in four (3.4%) at follow-up CT from 4–11 months (mean, 8.2 months) after RFA. Cumulative rates of local tumor progression, estimated at 1 and 3 years, were 4.8% and 4.8%, respectively. No further local tumor progression was detected after month 11. One (25%) of four locally progressive tumors was treated again with percutaneous RFA. Of the remaining three, one was treated with PEI, one with surgical resection and one with hepatic arterial infusion therapy. All four of these patients developed local tumor progression within 12 months. Cumulative disease-free survival rates estimated at 3 and 5 years were 34.0% and 24.0%, respectively (Fig. 2). Univariate analysis identified tumor size, tumor number, AFP, serum albumin level, platelet count, indocyanine green 15-min retention rate (ICG-R15)

and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection as significant determinants of disease-free survival. Multivariate analysis identified tumor number as the only statistically significant determinant of disease-free survival (solitary, hazards ratio [HR] = 2.465, 95% confidence interval check details [CI] = 1.170–5.191, P = 0.018). Of a total of 88 patients, 17 (19.3%) died due to HCC (n = 5), hepatic failure or complications of cirrhosis (n = 6) and other causes (n = 6). Cumulative overall survival rates estimated at 3 and 5 years were 83.0% and 70.0%, respectively (Fig. 3). Univariate analysis identified sex, age, serum bilirubin level, serum albumin level, and (ICG-R15; %) as significant

determinants of overall survival. Multivariate analysis identified age and ICG-R15 as the statistically significant determinants of overall survival (aged < 70 years; HR = 2.341, 95% CI = 1.101–4.977, P = 0.027; and ICG-R15 < 15%; HR = 3.621, 95% CI = 1.086–12.079, P = 0.036). Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of the 43 (48.8%) of 88 patients with recurrence during the follow-up period after RFA, classified according to time to recurrence into early Racecadotril (n = 18) and late recurrence (n = 25) subgroups. Correlations between time to recurrence from RFA and prognosis were analyzed. Kaplan–Meier curves for overall survival after RFA according to time to recurrence are shown in Figure 4. Overall survival of patients with early recurrence was significantly worse than that of patients with late recurrence (P = 0.014). On subgroup analysis, tumor size showed a significant association with early recurrence (P = 0.031). Multivariate analysis identified tumor size of more than 2 cm (risk ratio [RR] = 4.629, 95% CI = 1.241–17.241, P = 0.023) as the only independent risk factor for early recurrence of HCC after RFA. Of all patients with recurrence, four developed local tumor progression, all of whom were in the early recurrence group.