Purpose: The outcomes of patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) negative for all virus-related markers have not yet been characterized. This study investigated the outcomes of such patients in comparison to those who had virus-related resectable HCC.
Methods: A total of 398 patients with HCC were divided into 2 groups, comprising patients in which all virus-related markers (HBs-Ag, HBs-Ab, HBe-Ag, HBe-Ab, HBc-Ab, HCV-Ab) were negative (all-negative group, n = 63) and those with at least 1 positive virus-related marker (virus-related group, n = 335). The clinical characteristics, surgical data, and survival rates were compared between the groups.
Results: The serum AST (30 vs. 45 IU/l, P < 0.0001) and ALT (21 vs. 42 IU/l, P < 0.0001) levels were significantly lower in the all-negative group than in the virus-related group. The tumor size (4.3 vs. 3.1 cm, P < 0.0001), the prevalence of DM (46.8 vs. 25.4 %, P = 0.001), and BMI (24.8 vs. 22.9, P = 0.0023) were significantly higher in the all-negative group than in the virus-related group. HCC arose from a cirrhotic liver in a significantly higher proportion of patients in the virus-related group than in the all-negative group (20.6 vs. 44.8 %, P = 0.0002). The survival outcomes were not significantly different in the 2 groups (all-negative vs. virus-related: 5-year overall survival rate, 58.2 vs. 55.2 %, P = 0.27), despite such differences in the patients' characteristics.
Conclusions: The postoperative outcomes of patients with HCC are independent of the presence or absence of hepatitis viral infection.