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Should ALPPS be Used for Liver Resection in Intermediate-Stage HCC?

  • Hepatobiliary Tumors
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Extended liver resections in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are problematic due to hepatitis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) has been promoted as a novel method to induce hypertrophy for patients with extensive colorectal liver metastases, but outcomes in HCC have not been well investigated.

Methods

All patients registered in the international ALPPS Registry (www.alpps.org) from 2010 to 2015 were studied. Hypertrophy of the future liver remnant, perioperative morbidity and mortality, age, overall survival, and other parameters were compared between patients with HCC and patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM).

Results

The study compared 35 patients with HCC and 225 patients with CRLM. The majority of patients undergoing ALPPS for HCC fall into the intermediate-stage category of the Barcelona clinic algorithm. In this study, hypertrophy was rapid and extensive for the HCC patients, albeit lower than for the CRLM patients (47 vs. 76 %; p < 0.002). Hypertrophy showed a linear negative correlation with the degrees of fibrosis. The 90-day mortality for ALPPS used to treat HCC was almost fivefold higher than for CRLM (31 vs. 7 %; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that patients older than 61 years had a significantly reduced overall survival (p < 0.004).

Conclusion

The ALPPS approach induces a considerable hypertrophic response in HCC patients and allows resection of intermediate-stage HCC, albeit at the cost of a 31 % perioperative mortality rate. The use of ALPPS for HCC remains prohibitive for most patients and should be performed only for a highly selected patient population younger than 60 years with low-grade fibrosis.

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Conflict of Interest

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Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, Hospital of the University of Munich, Munich, Germany

      J. G. D’Haese MD, M. Weniger MD, S. Pratschke MD, M. Guba MD, J. Werner MD, MBA & M. K. Angele MD, FACS

    2. Department of Pathology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

      J. Neumann MD

    3. Department of Surgery, County Council of Östergötland, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

      B. Björnsson MD

    4. HPB Surgery and Liver Transplant Unit, Italian Hospital Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

      V. Ardiles MD

    5. Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA

      W. Chapman MD, FACS

    6. Medical Center London, Western University, Ontario, Canada

      R. Hernandez-Alejandro MD

    7. Department of HPB Surgery and Liver Transplant, Beaujon Hospital, Clichy, France

      O. Soubrane MD

    8. Virgen de la Arrixaca University Hospital, Murcia, Spain

      R. Robles-Campos MD

    9. Department of Surgery, University Clinical Center, Nis, Serbia

      M. Stojanovic MD, PhD

    10. Department of Surgery, Parma University Hospital, Parma, Italy

      R. Dalla Valle MD

    11. Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

      A. C. Y. Chan MD, MBBS, FRCS, FCSHK, FHKAM (Surgery)

    12. Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry, and Epidemiology–IBE, Chair for Public Health and Health Services Research, Research Unit for Biopsychosocial Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

      M. Coenen PhD, MPH

    13. Department of Surgery, Cantonal Hospital Winterthur, Institute of Physiology, University of Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

      E. Schadde MD, FACS

    14. Department of General, Visceral, Transplantation, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, Campus Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

      M. K. Angele MD, FACS

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    1. J. G. D’Haese MD
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    2. J. Neumann MD
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    3. M. Weniger MD
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    8. R. Hernandez-Alejandro MD
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    14. M. Coenen PhD, MPH
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    17. E. Schadde MD, FACS
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to M. K. Angele MD, FACS.

    Additional information

    E. Schadde and M. K. Angele have contributed equally to this work.

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    D’Haese, J.G., Neumann, J., Weniger, M. et al. Should ALPPS be Used for Liver Resection in Intermediate-Stage HCC?. Ann Surg Oncol 23, 1335–1343 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-015-5007-0

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-015-5007-0

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