Microwave ablation compared with hepatic resection for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 2 Summary of analyses: MWA versus HR

Outcome	Number of studies included in meta-analysis	Summary effect* (95% CI); P value	Heterogeneity (I² value) (%)
Primary outcome
LTR	8	2.49 (1.19, 5.22); P = 0.016	84
Secondary outcomes
OS (1-year)	10	1.01 (0.99, 1.03); P = 0.409	0
OS (3-year)	10	0.94 (0.88, 0.99); P = 0.03	0
OS (5-year)	9	0.88 (0.80, 0.97); P = 0.01	0
IDL	5	1.13 (0.80, 1.60); P = 0.474	75
EHM	2	1.10 (0.71, 1.72); P = 0.659	0
Operative time (min)	3	− 58.69 (− 89.55, − 27.83); P < 0.001	94
Intraoperative blood loss (mL)	3	− 189.09 (− 324.54, − 53.64); P = 0.006	93
Hospital length of stay (days)	6	− 6.16 (− 8.25, − 4.07); P < 0.001	84
DFS (1-year)	8	0.95 (0.90, 1.01); P = 0.085	39
DFS (3-year)	8	0.78 (0.65, 0.94); P = 0.009	59
DFS (5-year)	8	0.83 (0.58, 1.17); P = 0.284	71
Overall complications	9	0.31 (0.19, 0.51); P < 0.001	10
Major complications	4	0.24 (0.10, 0.61); P = 0.002	0
Minor complications	3	0.45 (0.23, 0.90); P = 0.024	66

*Risk ratio (RR) for MWA versus HR for all outcomes except operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital length of stay, which are reported as the weighted mean difference (WMD). Italicized values indicate statistical significance. Point estimates and confidence intervals were calculated using a random effects model
Abbreviations: CI confidence interval, DFS disease-free survival, EHM extrahepatic metastasis, HR hepatic resection, IDL intrahepatic de novo lesions, LTR local tumor recurrence, MWA microwave ablation, OS overall survival, RR risk ratio

ISSN: 1477-7819