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%.