[Clinical factors affecting prognosis of small hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy]

One hundred and two patients with histologically diagnosed small hepatocellular carcinoma (< or = 5cm HCC) underwent curative irregular hepatectomy in our hospital from Nov 1972 to Nov 1992. The postoperative survival rates at 1,3,5 and 10 years were 93.9%, 75.3%, 52.8% and 44.6%, respectively. We analysed the clinical factors using a Cox model and found that the clinical staging of HCC, gamma-GT, satellite tumor nodules, tumour capsule and postoperative recurrence have significant effect on the survival rate of patients. We conclude that early diagnosis of sub--clinical HCC, transarterial embolism after hepatectomy to reduce postoperative recurrence, and active treatment with operation and/or TAE after recurrence are effective methods to improve survival of HCC patients.