Optimal treatment strategy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma based on recurrence time and tumor size: A propensity score matching study

•Currently, there are no global guidelines to regulate the treatment of RHCC. This study analyzed the prognosis of RH and TACE-MWA in the treatment of RHCC by retrospective case-control.•Recurrence time and tumor size may affect patient prognosis, therefore, subgroup analysis based on recurrence time and tumor size was conducted in this study.•It is inevitable that there are differences among patients receiving different treatments. Therefore, PSM was adopted in this study to balance the differences between groups.•Through retrospective analysis, the results of this study suggest that patients with RHCC should adopt personalized treatment, and the treatment methods are different with different recurrence time and tumor size.