Impact of Hepatectomy on HCC Recurrence

Impact of Major Hepatectomy on Recurrence After Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma at China Liver Cancer Staging (CNLC) Stage : a Propensity Score Matching Study

Hepatectomy is the first option for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) at CNLC Ib stage. HCC patients who undergo curative hepatectomy may experience varying remnant liver volumes and thus leads to different oncological outcomes.

Patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who undergo curative hepatectomy may experience varying remnant liver volumes. The investigators aimed to evaluate whether the extent of liver resection has an effect on postoperative recurrence in HCC patients. A retrospective analysis was conducted on 197 patients who underwent hepatectomy for a solitary HCC lesion measuring ≥5 cm between January 2019 and June 2022. Patients were divided into major hepatectomy (MAH) group (n=70) and minor hepatectomy (MIH) group (n=127) based on the extent of liver resection. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was compared between the two groups. Propensity score matching was employed to mitigate potential biases in this research.

Inclusion Criteria:

• histologically confirmed solitary HCC with a size of ≥5 cm
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score of 0 or 1
• preoperative indocyanine green retention rate at 15 minutes ≤15% and Child-Pugh A classification
• no evidence of vascular invasion or extrahepatic disease.

Exclusion Criteria:

• not diagnosed with HCC or had an HCC measuring <5 cm
• had confirmed tumor metastases or macrovascular invasion based on radiological examinations
• died within 90 days after surgery were excluded