94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Surgical Oncology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1587435
This article is part of the Research TopicBasic and Clinical Research on Surgical Treatment and Targeted Immunotherapy for Liver CancerView all 3 articles
Efficacy and Safety of Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Microwave Ablation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma at Specific Anatomic Sites of the Liver: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1Shenzhen Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
- 2Shenzhen Peking University Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: This meta-analysis aims to assess the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) located at specific anatomic sites of the liver with those of non-specific sites.Methods: A systematic search was conducted across five databases, covering the period from the establishment of each database to September 30, 2024. Prospective and retrospective studies involving ultrasound-guided percutaneous MWA for the treatment of HCC were included. Data extraction and statistical analysis were performed using Stata 15.1 software. The main outcomes were 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year overall survival rates, complete ablation rates, and major complication rates. The results were presented as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: A total of 9 studies were included, involving 2381 patients, of which 1047 had HCC at specific anatomic sites, and 1334 had HCC at non-specific sites. The OR values (95% CI) for overall survival at 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years for patients with HCC at specific anatomic sites compared to non-specific sites were 0.89 (0.59, 1.35), 0.83 (0.66, 1.05), and 1.12 (0.91, 1.38), respectively. The OR for complete ablation rate was 0.97 (0.61, 1.53), and the OR for major complications was 1.44 (0.59, 3.51).Ultrasound-guided percutaneous MWA for HCC at specific anatomic sites shows similar efficacy and safety to that at non-specific sites, with no significant differences in survival rates, complete ablation rates, or complication rates.
Keywords: Ultrasound guidance, Microwave ablation, liver cancer, specific anatomical sites, Meta-analysis
Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 27 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zha, Zhang, Cao, Li, XU and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
LIANGLIANG XU, Shenzhen Peking University Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Medical Center, Shenzhen, China
Wenqi Chen, Shenzhen Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, 518053, Guangdong Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.