Role of surgical resection for multiple hepatocellular carcinomas

AIM:To clarify the role of surgical resection for multiple hepatocellular carcinomas(HCCs)compared to transarterial chemoembolization(TACE)and liver transplantation(LT). METHODS:Among the HCC patients who were managed at Yonsei University Health System between January 2003 and December 2008,160 patients who met the following criteria were retrospectively enrolled:(1) two or three radiologically diagnosed HCCs;(2)no radiologic vascular invasion;(3)Child-Pugh class A;(4) main tumor smaller than 5 cm in diameter;and(5) platelet count greater than 50 000/mm3.Long-term outcomes were compared among the following three treatment modalities:surgical resection or combined radiofrequency ablation(RFA)(n=36),TACE(n=107), and LT(n=17).The survival curves were computed using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with a log-rank test.To identify the patients who gained a survival benefit from surgical resection,we also investigated prognostic factors for survival following surgical resection.Multivariate analyses of the prognostic factors for survival were performed using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS:The overall survival(OS)rate was significantly higher in the surgical resection group than in the TACE group(48.1%vs 28.9%at 5 years,P<0.005). LT had the best OS rate,which was better than that of the surgical resection group,although the difference was not statistically significant(80.2%vs 48.1%at 5 years,P=0.447).The disease-free survival rates were also significantly higher in the LT group than in the surgical resection group(88.2%vs 11.2%at 5 years, P<0.001).Liver cirrhosis was the only significant prognostic factor for poor OS after surgical resection. Clinical liver cirrhosis rates were 55.6%(20/36)in the resection group and 93.5%(100/107)in the TACE group.There were 19 major and 17 minor resections. En bloc resection was performed in 23 patients,multisite resection was performed in 5 patients,and combined resection with RFA was performed in 8 patients. In the TACE group,only 34 patients(31.8%)were recorded as having complete remission after primary TACE.Seventy-two patients(67.3%)were retreated with repeated TACE combined with other therapies. In patients who underwent surgical resection,the 16 patients who did not have cirrhosis had higher 5-year OS and disease-free survival rates than the 20 patients who had cirrhosis(80.8%vs 25.5%5-year OS rate, P=0.006;22.2%vs 0%5-year disease-free survival rate,P=0.048).Surgical resection in the 20 patients who had cirrhosis did not provide any survival benefit when compared with TACE(25.5%vs 24.7%5-year OS rate,P=0.225).Twenty-nine of the 36 patients who underwent surgical resection experienced recur-rence.Of the patients with cirrhosis,80%(16/20) were within the Milan criteria at the time of recurrence CONCLUSION:Among patients with two or three HCCs, no radiologic vascular invasion,and tumor diameters≤ 5 cm,surgical resection is recommended only in those without cirrhosis.