Abstract
Objectives
Salvage liver transplantation (sLT) is considered an effective method to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence. This multicenter research aimed to identify the prognostic factors associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) after sLT.
Material and Methods
A retrospective analysis of 114 patients who had undergone sLT for recurrent HCC between February 2012 and September 2020 was performed. The baseline and clinicopathological data of the patients were collected.
Results
The 1-, 3-, and 5-year RFS rates after sLT were 88.9%, 75.2%, and 69.2%, respectively, and the OS rates were 96.4%, 78.3%, and 70.8%. A time from liver resection (LR) to recurrence < 1 year, disease beyond the Milan criteria at sLT and macrotrabecular massive (MTM)-HCC were identified as risk factors for RFS and were further identified as independent risk factors. A time from LR to recurrence < 1 year, disease beyond the Milan criteria at sLT and MTM-HCC were also risk factors for OS and were further identified as independent risk factors.
Conclusions
Compared with primary liver transplantation (pLT), more prognostic factors are available from patients who had undergone LR. We suggest that in cases of HCC recurrence within 1 year after LR, disease beyond the Milan criteria at sLT and MTM-HCC patients, sLT should be used with caution.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This work was supported by the Ningbo Health Branding Subject Fund (PPXK2018-03), Ningbo Public Welfare Science and Technology Plan Project（2021S184), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (202002030201).
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JZF, JXC, and YY contributed to the conception, design, and final approval of the submitted version. XYT, JHS, CDL, ZPH, ZJD, XTS, and HDZ contributed to do experiments, interpretation of data, and completion of figures and tables. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. JZF and JXC have contributed equally to this work.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Ningbo Medical Centre Lihuili Hospital (KY2020PJ027).
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Yang, Y., Sun, JH., Tan, XY. et al. MTM-HCC at Previous Liver Resection as a Predictor of Overall Survival in Salvage Liver Transplantation. Dig Dis Sci 68, 2768–2777 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-023-07857-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-023-07857-w