Potential survival benefit of radiofrequency ablation for small solitary intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in nonsurgically managed patients: A population‐based analysis

Abstract Background Little data regarding the selection of nonsurgical therapies for localized intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are available. Methods A cohort of nonsurgically managed patients with American Joint Commission on Cancer clinical stage I/II ICC in the United States from 2004 to 2013 were identified in the National Cancer Database. Overall survival (OS) was compared according to treatment options (radiofrequency ablation [RFA] vs chemoradiotherapy) using propensity‐score matching. Results Among 505 patients, 86 patients were treated with RFA and 419 patients were treated with chemoradiotherapy. After propensity matching (n = 84, each group), 5‐year OS was 17.6% among patients who underwent RFA vs 3.8% among patients receiving chemoradiotherapy ( P < .001). On bivariate analysis, RFA was related to an OS benefit (hazard ratio, 0.46; 95% confidence interval, 0.33‐0.66; P < .001). Specifially, a stage‐specific subgroup analysis revealed a survival benefit in favor of RFA among stage I patients (5‐year OS; RFA: 20.1% vs chemoradiotherapy: 3.7%, P < .001 ) , whereas no difference in OS was noted among patients with stage II disease. Conclusion Among ICC patients with small (≤5 cm), solitary ICC without vascular invasion, RFA was associated with better survival compared with chemoradiotherapy.