Clinicopathologic factors influencing long-term survival after resection for hepatocellular carcinoma

The purpose of this study is to investigate the clinicopathologic factors that influence a survival longer than 5 years with no recurrence in patients after resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Between January 1992 and December 1994, 64 patients with complete viral markers study underwent curative hepatic resection for HCC. Four patients who died of surgical morbidity (hospital mortality, 6.3%) were excluded from this study. Among the 60 patients who survived, 10 patients (16.7%) survived over 5 years without recurrence. The clinicopathologic features and surgical procedures of the patients with long-term survival (> or = 5 years) without recurrence (n = 10) were compared with those of less than 5 years survival or with tumor recurrence (n = 50). The median follow-up was 64.8 months, ranging from 61.1 to 76.7 months.

Six of the 10 patients were men with an age ranging from 35 to 75 years (mean, 57.6 +/- 9.7). Using univariate analysis, long-term survival without recurrence was significantly associated with a lower amount of perioperative blood transfusion (less than 7 units, p = 0.036) and an existence of tumor capsule (p = 0.031). But in multivariate analysis, only the presence of tumor capsule was statistically significant.

Long-term survival without recurrence was related to a lower amount of perioperative blood transfusion, and an existence of tumor capsule in univariate analysis. But in multivariate analysis, only the existence of tumor capsule plays a significant role.