Abstract:Objective: To assess the clinical effect of using “no-touch” isolation technique in surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: The clinical data of 70 HCC patients undergoing surgical resection with “no-touch” isolation technique (observational group) from January 2011 to January 2013, and 70 HCC patients undergoing conventional resection technique (control group) during the same period were retrospectively analyzed. The relevant surgical variables as well as the postoperative recurrence and survival between the two groups were compared. Results: In observational group compared with control group, the operative time was prolonged [(238.9± 44.8) min vs. (132.8±25.4) min, P<0.05], both intraoperative blood loss and blood transfusion rate showed no statistical difference [(461.0±112.6) mL vs. (464.6±109.0) mL; 31.4% vs. 28.5%, both P>0.05], and the hepatic portal occlusion rate was decreased (7.14% vs. 32.9%, P<0.05). No significant difference was noted in incidence of postoperative complications between the two groups (18.6% vs. 22.9%, P>0.05). The 1-year recurrence rate in observational group was significantly lower than that in control group (24.3% vs.44.3%, P<0.05), but the 1-year survival rate of the two groups had no statistical difference (88.6% vs. 81.2%, P>0.05). Conclusion: Using “no-touch” isolation technique in HCC surgical treatment may provide an active support for reducing postoperative tumor recurrence, and it has certain superiority to conventional technique.