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

Table 3 Summary of analyses: MWA + HR versus HR

Outcome	Number of studies included in meta-analysis*	Summary effect† (95% CI); P value	Heterogeneity (I² value) (%)
Primary outcome
LTR	3	0.63 (0.28, 1.41); P = 0.263	69
Secondary outcomes
OS (1-year)	4	0.99 (0.88, 1.11); P = 0.867	48
OS (3-year)	4	0.84 (0.49, 1.46); P = 0.541	82
OS (5-year)	2	0.74 (0.19, 2.79); P = 0.651	91
IDL	2	1.08 (0.61, 1.9); P = 0.793	51
EHM†	2	0.82 (0.49, 1.39); P = 0.464	27
Operative time (min)	4	13.93 (− 9.69, 37.54); P = 0.248	81
Intraoperative blood loss (mL)	4	− 161.89 (− 291.49, − 32.30); P = 0.014	92
Hospital length of stay (days)	2	0.08 (− 2.04, 2.19); P = 0.942	0
DFS (1-year)	3	0.95 (0.65, 1.40); P = 0.80	82
DFS (3-year)	3	1.01 (0.69, 1.48); P = 0.944	51
Overall complications	5	0.86 (0.63, 1.18); P = 0.353	0
Major complications	4	0.89 (0.57, 1.38); P = 0.588	12
Minor complications	3	0.83 (0.64, 1.08); P = 0.174	0
Blood transfusion	3	0.45 (0.14, 1.41); P = 0.171	85

*Three studies [11, 12, 16] included in this comparison used microwave radiation for pre-transection coagulation rather than tumor ablation
†Risk ratio (RR) for MWA + HR 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, IDL intrahepatic de novo lesions, HR hepatic resection, LTR local tumor recurrence, MWA microwave ablation, OS overall survival, RR risk ratio

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