Combination therapy of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for small hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with TACE or RFA monotherapy.

TACE-RFA appears to result in more frequent patient discomfort requiring medication, longer hospital stay, and more frequent complications than TACE or RFA monotherapy. Tumor response of TACE-RFA seems to be similar to that of RFA and better than TACE monotherapy. Thus, TACE-RFA for treating small HCC may be required for the selected patients, especially patients with small HCC ineligible for RFA monotherapy.