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Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma versus conventional hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

  • Review – Clinical Oncology
  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma (SHCC) is a rare subtype of primary liver malignancies and is still ill-defined and poorly understood. Therefore, our study was performed to have a comprehensive evaluation SHCC versus conventional hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods

A thorough database searching was performed in PubMed, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library. RevMan5.3 and Stata 13.0 software were used for statistical analyses. The primary endpoint of our analysis is the long-term survival and the secondary endpoint is clinical and pathological features.

Results

Four studies with a relative large cohort were finally identified. Compared with patients with pure HCC, patients with SHCC had a significantly worse overall survival (P < 0.00001) and disease-free survival (P < 0.0001). Moreover, a larger tumor size (P = 0.003), a higher incidence of node metastasis (P < 0.00001) and a higher proportion of advanced lesions (P = 0.04) were more frequently detected in patients with SHCC. Higher levels of serum ALT (P = 0.02) and TB (P = 0.005) were detected in patients with HCC rather than SHCC, while serum ALB (P = 0.02) level was relatively higher in patients with SHCC. For other measured outcomes, including concurrent viral hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver storage (Child A/B), multifocal tumors, vascular invasion and preoperative AFP level, the results showed no significant difference (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

SHCC has a worse prognosis and exhibits more aggressively than conventional HCC. Future large well-designed studies are demanded for further validation.

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Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study is included in the published article.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZYJC21046); 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence-Clinical Research Incubation Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (2021HXFH001); Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021YJ0132, 2021YFS0100); The fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M692277); Sichuan University-Zigong School-local Cooperation project (2021CDZG-23); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019SCUH0021), and Post-Doctor Research Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (2021HXBH127).

Funding

This study was Supported by 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (ZYJC21046); 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence-Clinical Research Incubation Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (2021HXFH001); Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2021YJ0132, 2021YFS0100); The fellowship of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M692277); Sichuan University-Zigong School-local Cooperation project (2021CDZG-23); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2019SCUH0021), and Post-Doctor Research Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (2021HXBH127).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Tian-Run Lv and Hai-Jie Hu contributed equally to the study and were the co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biliary Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, Sichuan, China

    Tian-Run Lv, Hai-Jie Hu, Parbatraj Regmi, Fei Liu & Fu-Yu Li

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  1. Tian-Run Lv
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  2. Hai-Jie Hu
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  3. Parbatraj Regmi
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  4. Fei Liu
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Contributions

T-RL and H-JH contributed equally to the study. T-RL contributed to data acquisition and drafted the manuscript. H-JH contributed to the literature review, manuscript editing and subsequent minor revision. PR, FL were involved editing the manuscript. F-YL contributed to the study design and revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fu-Yu Li.

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Lv, TR., Hu, HJ., Regmi, P. et al. Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma versus conventional hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 148, 1685–1696 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-022-03949-8

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