HCC Staging Modified by Tumor Micronecrosis

Optimizing Hepatocellular Carcinoma Disease Staging Systems by Incorporating Tumor Micronecrosis: A Multi-institutional Retrospective Study

Tumor micronecrosis is a pathological feature that reflects malignant biological behavior in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumor micronecrosis based on the current BCLC and TNM staging systems, and futher improve the performance of the staging models by establishing modified new staging models including tumor micronecrosis.

Inclusion Criteria:

• primary and histologically confirmed HCCs
• patients who underwent curative liver resection

Exclusion Criteria:

• simultaneous presence of other tumors
• patients who had received preoperative antitumor therapies
• no available surgical specimens for evaluating micronecrosis status
• gross tumor necrosis and Nscore = 3