Prognostic factors of disease-free and overall survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing partial hepatectomy in curative intent

Purpose Tumor recurrence after liver resection continues to pose a major problem in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we aimed to evaluate prognostic markers for disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in HCC-patients who underwent liver resection in curative intent. Additionally, we investigated the effects of HCC-recurrence in a subgroup of patients.

Methods Between 2010 and 2016, 111 patients underwent surgical resection for HCC at our institution. A subgroup of 50 patients showed tumor recurrence (n = 50) during follow-up. The associations of DFS and OS with histopathologic characteristics were assessed using univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses.

Results Median DFS was 31 months and median OS was 27 months. Milan criteria (p = 0.045), macrovascular invasion (p = 0.044) and UICC tumor stage (p = 0.003) were independently associated with DFS while macrovascular invasion (p = 0.001) and MELD score (p = 0.010) were independently associated with OS. Tumor recurrence did not show an association with OS (p = 0.228). However, patients with HCC-recurrence who underwent repeat-surgical or interventional treatment showed improved OS compared to patients treated with palliative or sorafenib treatment alone (OS 18 months vs. 2 months; p <0.001).

Conclusion Tumor recurrence alone is not associated with poor oncological outcome and repeat liver resections as well as local-ablative procedures may help to improve OS in HCC.