Quality of life of primary hepatocellular carcinoma patients after radiofrequency ablation with or without transcatheter arterial chemoembolization

Objective To evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of primary hepatoeeltular carcinoma (HCC) patients after radiofrequency ablation (RFA),comparing with that of patients after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) and TACE combined with RFA.Methods A QOL questionnaire special for HCC Datients was used in 209 HCC patients after two months treatment,in which 88 patients underwent RFA (RFA group),72 patients underwent transcatheter arterial ehemoembolization (TACE group) and 49 patients underwent both TACE and RFA (TACE+RFA group).Results The median ofoverall score of RFA group (167.6) was higher than that of TACE group(145.7)(P<0.01).Especially,RFA group and TACE+RFA group were better than TACE group in symptom/side effect (47.5,45 vs.37.2)(P<0.01).RFA group had a tendency of higher physical scores than TACE group (P=0.047).The proportion of liver function damage was higher in TACE group and combination group than that in RFA group respectively.TACE group had more complications and tumor recurrence after treatment than RFA group and TACE+RFA group (P<0.01).Conclusion Radiofrequency ablation provides an effective and microinvasive method of killing liver tumors.The overall QOL score of HCC patients after RFA treatment is maintained at a relatively higher level than after TACE treatment.RFA is superior to TACE in physical and symptom/side effects. The combination of RFA and TACE appears to be effeetive and reveals a favorable outcome for HCC. Key words: Primary hepatocellular carcinoma;  Radiofrequency ablation;  Quality of life