Favorable Outcomes of Hepatectomy for Ruptured Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Retrospective Analysis of Primary R0-Hepatectomized Patients

Abstract

Background/aim: The rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is defined as a detrimental staging factor. The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether the prognosis of surgical patients with ruptured HCC was truly appalling.

Patients and methods: The data obtained from the medical records of 1,031 patients who underwent primary R0 hepatecomy for HCC between August 2003 and November 2014 at the Department of Surgery and Science, Kyushu University Hospital and its two affiliated hospitals, were retrospectively analyzed. Twenty-seven patients had ruptured HCC.

Results: The recurrence-free and overall survival for patients with ruptured HCC were favorable. All 19 patients with ruptured HCC who experienced recurrence had intrahepatic recurrence, while only three had peritoneal recurrence. The multivariate risk factor analyses showed that rupture itself was not relevant to recurrence-free survival nor to overall patient survival.

Conclusion: Rupture itself does not have much relevance to the outcome for patients who undergo hepatectomy.

Keywords: Rupture; hepatocellular carcinoma; recurrence; survival.