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Tumor Size Drives the Prognosis After Hepatic Resection of Solitary Hepatocellular Carcinoma Without Vascular Invasion

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

Purpose

We assessed the association of tumor size with patient survival following diagnosis of solitary hepatocellular carcinoma without vascular invasion.

Methods

The overall population comprised 638 patients who initially underwent hepatic resection with curative intent for a solitary hepatocellular carcinoma without macroscopic vascular invasion (487 had no microscopic vascular invasion). We set 5 cm as the tumor cutoff size for a solitary tumor based on the Milan criteria, and we used a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model and propensity score matching to evaluate the impact of tumor size on survival.

Results

Tumor size was significantly associated with a proportional increase in cancer-specific survival in the overall population (P = 0.001) and the subgroup with no microscopic vascular invasion (P = 0.029); however, multivariate analysis revealed no significant risk associated with recurrence-free survival (P = 0.055 and 0.59, respectively). After propensity score matching, the cancer-specific survival of patients with tumors > 5 cm was significantly worse than for those with tumors ≤ 5 cm in the overall population (P = 0.0077); the corresponding 2-year cumulative recurrence rates were 45.8% and 23.5%, respectively (P = 0.0027). Finally, the proportions of extrahepatic to total recurrences were 8% for those with tumors ≤ 5 cm and 29.1% for those with tumors > 5 cm in the unmatched overall population (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Tumor size was associated with recurrence within 2 years of surgery and with poor cancer-specific survival in patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma, even in the absence of microscopic vascular invasion.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Health, Labour and Welfare Policy Research Grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare of Japan (Policy Research for Hepatitis Measures [H30-Kansei-Shitei-003]).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan

    Hiroji Shinkawa, Shogo Tanaka, Shigekazu Takemura & Shoji Kubo

  2. Division of Data Management, Gifu University Hospital Innovative and Clinical Research Promotion Center, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu City, 501-1194, Japan

    Takuma Ishihara

  3. Department of Medical Statistics, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abeno-ku, Osaka, 545-8585, Japan

    Kouji Yamamoto

Authors
  1. Hiroji Shinkawa
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  2. Shogo Tanaka
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  3. Shigekazu Takemura
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  4. Takuma Ishihara
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All authors participated equally in the study as per the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and have provided final approval for its publication.

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Correspondence to Hiroji Shinkawa.

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The study was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of our institutional ethics committee and the Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Shinkawa, H., Tanaka, S., Takemura, S. et al. Tumor Size Drives the Prognosis After Hepatic Resection of Solitary Hepatocellular Carcinoma Without Vascular Invasion. J Gastrointest Surg 24, 1040–1048 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-019-04273-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-019-04273-2

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