Conticchio, MariaDelvecchio, AntonellaRatti, FrancescaGelli, MaximilianoAnelli, Ferdinando MLaurent, AlexisVitali, Giulio CMagistri, PaoloAssirati, GiacomoFelli, EmanueleWakabayashi, TaigaPessaux, PatrickPiardi, TullioDi Benedetto, Fabriziode'Angelis, NicolaJavier Briceno, Delgado FRampoldi, Antonio GAdam, RenéCherqui, DanielAldrighetti, LucaMemeo, Riccardo2023-05-032023-05-032021-06-08http://hdl.handle.net/10668/22255Laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) represented potential treatments for patients with a single hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) smaller than 3 cm. As the aging population soared, our study aimed to examine the advantage/drawback balance for these treatments, which should be reassessed in elderly patients. A multicentric retrospective study compared 184 elderly patients (aged >70 years) (86 patients underwent LLR and 98 had RFA) with single ≤3 cm HCC, observed from January 2009 to January 2019. After propensity score matching (PSM), the estimated 1- and 3-year overall survival rates were 96.5 and 87.9% for the LLR group, and 94.6 and 68.1% for the RFA group (p = 0.001) respectively. The estimated 1- and 3-year disease-free survival rates were 92.5 and 67.4% for the LLR group, and 68.5 and 36.9% for the RFA group (p = 0.001). Patients with HCC of anterolateral segments were more often treated with laparoscopic resection (47 vs. 36, p = 0.04). The median operative time in the resection group was 205 min and 25 min in the RFA group (p = 0.01). Length of hospital stay was 5 days in the resection group and 3 days in the RFA group (p = 0.03). Despite a longer length of hospital stay and operative time, LLR guarantees a comparable postoperative course and a better overall and disease-free survival in elderly patients with single HCC (≤3 cm), located in anterolateral segments.enAgedCarcinoma, HepatocellularCatheter AblationHepatectomyHumansLaparoscopyLiver NeoplasmsPropensity ScoreRadiofrequency AblationRetrospective StudiesTreatment Outcomeresearch article34167892open access10.1016/j.hpb.2021.05.0081477-2574https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hpb.2021.05.008