HCC conversion surgery matched early-stage survival

For selected patients with initially unresectable HCC who responded to conversion therapy, hepatectomy was followed by overall survival reported as comparable to direct surgery for BCLC-A disease.

• The retrospective cohort included 99 conversion-therapy responders who underwent resection and 111 patients treated with upfront hepatectomy; conversion therapy averaged five cycles.
• The abstract reports comparable 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival, but does not provide complete survival estimates.

This is encouraging for discussing surgery after response, not proof that conversion therapy and upfront surgery are equivalent: the comparison was nonrandomized and included only patients who responded and reached resection.