Vascular Invasion, Satellite Nodules and Absence of Tumor Capsule Strongly Correlate with Disease-Free Survival and Long-Term Outcome in Patients Resected for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancer in the world. Liver resection (LR) is the most used therapy in well compensated liver cirrhosis and maybe used as a first-line treatment. Aim of the study is to evaluate survival rates in patients who underwent LR for HCC and to identify risk factors able to influence the prognosis. Material/Method: A retrospective study was carried out in 115 patients whounderwent LR for HCC. We evaluated overall and disease-free survival rates at 1, 3 and 5years (y) and a series of variables included: type of resection, clamping, blood loss, transfusions, tumor size, presence of capsule, satellite nodules and vascular invasion. Results: The 1-, 3-, 5-y survival rates were 90.2%, 67% and 52.7%, and disease-free survival rates were 75.3%, 44.7% and 28.4%, respectively. We have found presence/ absence of capsulated tumor (p = 0.05), satellite nodules (p = 0.004) and vascular invasion (p = 0.001) as factors able to influence the overall survival and the disease-free survival (p = 0.04 for capsulated tumor, p = 0.01 for satellite nodules and p = 0.006 for vascular invasion). Conclusion: LR is the best therapeutic option for HCC when liver transplantation is contraindicated, with good survival rates. Presence of capsule, satellite nodules and vascular invasion are the most important factors able to influence the prognosis.