Liver resection in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: age does matter

Increasing proportions of elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) requiring oncological treatment have been noted. We aim to evaluate the impact of elderly age on outcomes of liver resection (LR) for HCC. This retrospective study enrolled 1004 patients with HCC who underwent curative LR in our institution from 2007 to 2017, dividing them into three groups according to age (18-59 years, n = 461; 60-74 years, n = 447; ≥ 75 years, n = 96). Elderly patients were defined as those ≥ 75 years old. Outcomes were then compared among the three groups, with a multivariate competing risk model used to estimate cause-specific subdistribution hazard ratios (SHRs) for HCC- and non-HCC-related deaths. The OS was significantly lower in the elderly than younger patients. However, recurrence-free survival was similar among the three groups. The cumulative incidence of HCC-related death was similar among the three groups; however, the cumulative incidence of non-HCC-related death was significantly higher in the elderly than younger patients. Moreover, the multivariate analysis showed that elderly age was not an independent variable associated with HCC-related death. However, elderly age was an independent variable associated with non-HCC-related death. The 60-year SHR for non-HCC-related death increased with increasing age. The elderly patients had significantly worse OS after LR than the younger patients, possibly due to the cumulative incidence of non-HCC-related death being significantly higher among the elderly than among the younger patients. Elderly patients should be more stringently selected for LR.