Bin Liang,1,2 Siyang Yao,2 Jiapeng Zhou,3 Zongkui Li,1,2 Tianqi Liu2 1Department of Graduate School, The Guangxi Medical University, 2Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning, 3Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First People’s Hospital of Qinzhou, Qinzhou, People’s Republic of China Background: To compare the outcomes of liver resection (LR) with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: A total of 122 HBV-related small HCC patients who underwent LR (n=64) or RFA (n=58) were involved in this retrospective study. Their basic clinical data, postoperative complications, survival outcomes, and prognostic factors were compared and analyzed.Results: Patients in the LR group had more serious complications (11 versus 0) and longer postoperative hospital stays (11.3 versus 6.0 days) than those in the RFA group (all P