Background: Hepatic resection is a potentially curative treatment for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Controversy persists regarding preoperative and intraoperative characteristics related to patient survival in various medical institutes. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of preoperative and intraoperative factors on the long-term survival of patients with HCC who underwent hepatectomy.
Methods: Data on 455 patients with HCC who underwent hepatectomy over a 20-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed for preoperative- and intraoperative-related prognostic factors.
Results: The 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year overall survival rates of patients with HCC who underwent resection were 76.3%, 57.9%, 46.7%, and 27.4%, respectively. Multivariate analyses identified four independent predictors of long-term prognosis-sex (male versus female, hazard ratio [HR] = 2.732, p = 0.026); differentiation (poor versus well, HR = 2.037, p = 0.030); total bilirubin value (μmol/L, HR = 1.056, p = 0.033); and intraoperative blood transfusion (no transfusion versus transfusion, HR = 0.417, p = 0.002). Hepatitis virus B infection (negative versus positive, HR = 0.669, p = 0.232) and resection style (anatomical versus nonanatomical, HR = 0.698, p = 0.181) were not associated with survival.
Discussion: Based on this 20-year study, poor survival of patients with HCC who underwent hepatectomy was correlated with preoperative and intraoperative factors including male sex, poor differentiation, increased total bilirubin levels, and intraoperative blood transfusion.
Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; hepatectomy; perioperative; prognosis; survival study.