Baseline characteristics
| Study | Country | Study type | Study period | Patient group | Patients no. | Age | Sex (female, %) | CTP grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen et al. [17] (2006) | China | RCT | 1999–2004 | SR vs. RFA | 42 vs. 37 | 49 vs. 51 | 17 vs. 21 | A vs. A |
| Guglielmi et al. [35] (2008) | Italy | R | 1996–2006 | SR vs. RFA | 24 vs. 21 | NA | 20 vs. 20 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Hiraoka et al. [34] (2008) | Japan | R | 2000–2007 | SR vs. RFA | 59 vs. 150 | 62 vs. 69 | 25 vs. 28 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Ueno et al. [36] (2009) | Japan | R | 2005–2008 | SR vs. RFA | 78 vs. 92 | 67 vs. 66 | 33 vs. 35 | A, B vs. A, B, C |
| Huang et al. [18] (2010) | China | RCT | 2003–2005 | SR vs. RFA | 45 vs. 57 | 56 vs. 57 | 26 vs. 31 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Yun et al. et al. [37] (2011) | Korea | R | 2000–2007 | SR vs. RFA | 215 vs. 255 | 52 vs. 57 | 20 vs. 23 | A vs. A |
| Nishikawa et al. [38] (2011) | Japan | R | 2004–2010 | SR vs. RFA | 69 vs. 162 | 67 vs. 68 | 28 vs. 41 | A, B vs. A, B, C |
| Wong et al. [39] (2013) | Taiwan | R | 2004–2009 | SR vs. RFA | 46 vs. 36 | 55 vs. 64 | 35 vs. 50 | A vs. A |
| Desiderio et al. [40] (2013) | Italy | R | 2004–2012 | SR vs. RFA | 22 vs. 19 | 66 vs. 64 | 29 vs. 20 | A vs. A |
| Pompili et al. [19] (2013) | Italy | RM | 1999–2010 | SR vs. RFA | 116 vs. 116 | 67 vs. 68 | 19 vs. 41 | A vs. A |
| Imai et al. [41] (2013) | Japan | R | 2000–2011 | SR vs. RFA | 101 vs. 82 | 63 vs. 67 | 26 vs. 44 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Kim et al. [42] (2014) | Korea | R | 2006–2010 | SR vs. RFA | 66 vs. 67 | 55 vs. 59 | 27 vs. 22 | A vs. A |
| Yang et al. [20] (2014) | Korea | RM | 2005–2006 | SR vs. RFA | 52 vs. 79 | 55 vs. 57 | 27 vs. 25 | A, B vs. A, B |
| RM | 2005–2006 | SR vs. TACE | 52 vs. 66 | 55 vs. 59 | 27 vs. 26 | A, B vs. A, B | ||
| RM | 2005–2006 | RFA vs. TACE | 79 vs. 66 | 57 vs. 59 | 25 vs. 26 | A, B vs. A, B | ||
| Shi et al. [43] (2014) | China | R | 2005–2011 | SR vs. MWA | 37 vs. 40 | 33 vs. 34 | 19 vs. 21 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Kang et al. [21] (2015) | Korea | RM | 2006–2010 | SR vs. RFA | 99 vs. 99 | 53 vs. 58 | 25 vs. 23 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Vitali et al. [44] (2016) | Switzerland | R | 1998–2012 | SR vs. RFA | 45 vs. 60 | 61 vs. 67 | 33 vs. 13 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Kim et al. [22] (2016) | Korea | RM | 2000–2009 | SR vs. RFA | 152 vs. 152 | 54 vs. 57 | 22 vs. 20 | A vs. A |
| Lee et al. [23] (2018) | Korea | RM | 2006–2010 | SR vs. RFA | 62 vs. 62 | 55 vs. 56 | 23 vs. 23 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Cha et al. [45] (2020) | Korea | R | 2008–2009 | SR vs. RFA | 145 vs. 178 | 53 vs. 57 | 26 vs. 19 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Sun et al. [24] (2020) | China | RM | 2004–2012 | SR vs. MWA | 41 vs. 51 | 25 vs. 23 | 19 vs. 21 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Suh et al. [25] (2021) | Korea | RM | 2005–2015 | SR vs. RFA | 657 vs. 653 | 66 vs. 6 | 24 vs. 28 | A vs. A |
| RM | 2005–2015 | SR vs. TACE | 657 vs. 745 | 55 vs. 59 | 24 vs. 29 | A vs. A | ||
| RM | 2005–2015 | RFA vs. TACE | 653 vs. 745 | 55 vs. 59 | 28 vs. 29 | A vs. A | ||
| An et al. [26] (2021) | China | RM | 2012–2018 | RFA vs. MWA | 70 vs. 74 | 57 vs. 57 | 10 vs. 12 | A, B vs. A |
| Lee et al. [29] (2022) | Korea | RM | 2005–2015 | SR vs. RFA | 232 vs. 159 | 22 vs. 2 | 27 vs. 25 | A vs. A |
| Zhang et al. [28] (2022) | China | RM | 2009–2018 | SR vs. RFA | 67 vs. 67 | 58 vs. 58 | 25 vs. 27 | A vs. A |
| Ko et al. [27] (2022) | Korea | RM | 2014–2016 | SR vs. RFA | 23 vs. 23 | 56 vs. 60 | 30 vs. 17 | NA |
| Feng et al. [30] (2022) | China | RM | 2011–2019 | SR vs. MWA | 71 vs. 83 | 77 vs. 78 | 20 vs. 24 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Kang et al. [46] (2023) | Korea | R | 2009–2018 | SR vs. RFA | 36 vs. 40 | 58 vs. 62 | 31 vs. 15 | A vs. A |
| Wu et al. [31] (2023) | China | RM | 2000–2018 | SR vs. RFA | 277 vs. 254 | NA | 25 vs. 24 | NA |
| Wang et al. [32] (2023) | China | RM | 2010–2019 | RFA vs. MWA | 137 vs. 75 | 55 vs. 55 | 26 vs. 25 | A, B vs. A, B |
| Liu et al. [33] (2023) | China | RM | 2002–2017 | SR vs. MWA | 118 vs. 63 | 59 vs. 62 | 12 vs. 88 | A, B vs. A, B |
CTP, Child-Turcotte-Pugh; RCT, randomized controlled trial; R, retrospective; RM, retrospective matched; SR, surgical resection; RFA, radiofrequency ablation; TACE, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization; MWA, microwave ablation; NA, not available.