Trends in local therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma and survival outcomes in the US population

Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) frequently presents with limitations to resection. We investigated survival outcomes after various local HCC therapies in US patients.

Relationships between local HCC therapy modality and overall survival (OS) were analyzed from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) 1973-2003 database. Of 46,065 patients with primary hepatobiliary malignancy, 5,317 individuals with HCC had sufficient surgical data. The median age was 65 (range 0-105), and 73% of patients were male. The median tumor size was 6 cm (.2-30). There were single lesions (52%), multiple lesions (28%), and extrahepatic disease (20%). Mortality at 30 days was 8.4% (resection), 3.3% (transplantation), 3.2% (ablation), or 31% (no local therapy, P <.0001). Actuarial 5-year survival was 67% after transplantation, 35% after resection, 20% after ablation, and 3% for no or incomplete local therapy (P <.0001). Multivariate prognosticators were surgical modality, disease extent, grade (all at P <.0001), tumor size (P = .01), vascular invasion (P = .02), and age (P = .045). Compared to resection, risk ratios were .56 (transplantation) and 1.53 (ablation).

Long-term HCC survival can be observed after all 3 treatment approaches but is best after transplantation and resection, although likely biased through confounding patient selection variables. Preferred HCC treatment should be individualized based on morbidity and long-term OS prospects.