Association of tumor morphology with long-term prognosis after liver resection for patients with a solitary huge hepatocellular carcinoma-a multicenter propensity score matching analysis

Background:A solitary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)without macrovascular invasion and distant metastasis,regardless of tumor size,is currently classified as early-stage disease by the latest Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer(BCLC)staging system.While the preferred treatment is surgical resection,the association of tumor morphology with long-term survival outcomes after liver resection for a solitary huge HCC of≥10 cm has not been defined.Methods:Patients who underwent curative liver resection for a solitary huge HCC were identified from a multicenter database.Preoperative imaging findings were used to define spherical-or ellipsoidal-shaped lesions with smooth edges as balloon-shaped HCCs(BS-HCCs);out-of-shape lesions or lesions of any shape with matt edges were defined as non-balloon-shaped HCCs(NBS-HCCs).The two groups of patients with BS-HCCs and NBS-HCCs were matched in a 1:1 ratio using propensity score matching(PSM).Clinicopathologic characteristics,long-term overall survival(OS)and recurrence-free survival(RFS)were assessed.Results:Among patients with a solitary huge HCC,74 pairs of patients with BS-HCC and NBS-HCC were matched.Tumor pathological features including proportions of microvascular invasion,satellite nodules,and incomplete tumor encapsulation in the BS-HCC group were lower than the NBS-HCC group.At a median follow-up of 50.7 months,median OS and RFS of all patients with a solitary huge HCC after PSM were 27.8 and 10.1 months,respectively.The BS-HCC group had better median OS and RFS than the NBS-HCC group(31.9 vs.21.0 months,P=0.01;and 19.7 vs.6.4 months,P=0.015).Multivariate analyses identified BS-HCC as independently associated with better OS(HR=0.592,P=0.009)and RFS(HR=0.633,P=0.013).Conclusions:For a solitary huge HCC,preoperative imaging on tumor morphology was associated with prognosis following resection.In particular,patients with BS-HCCs had better long-term survival following liver resection versus patients with large NBS-HCCs.