Combined hepatectomy and radiofrequency ablation for multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma: a case report

INTRODUCTION At the present time, the best possible choice for the local management of a multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) developing on liver cirrhosis is multimodal treatment of the disease. Combined approach based on simultaneous radiofrequency ablation (RFA) together with limited surgical resection represents a valid choice of treatment. CASE PRESENTATION A 75-year-old white female patient affected of HCV-associated cirrhosis in Child-Pugh's functional class A5, developed a bifocal HCC. The patient had undergone a limited surgical resection together with simultaneous RFA, without intraoperative and postoperative surgical complications. At 36 months after surgery, still shows no sign of disease relapse. CONCLUSION This strategy directed at the management of multifocal HCC, may prove more useful for the reduction of surgical risk and post-operative progression of the liver cirrhosis than large-scale hepatectomy, since it presents no peri-operative mortality and a complication rate of less than 10%.