Liver resection or transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma? Retrospective analysis of 215 patients with cirrhosis

Background/Aims: Currently, surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with cirrhosis is not clearly defined, The objective of this study was, in patients,vith cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma, to compare liver resection to transplantation assessed by patient survival and to determine whether the tumor recurrence might be influenced by prognostic factors, Methods: We have gathered all the available data from six French Medical Universities, for 215 patients with cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma surgically treated either by liver resection (102) or by transplantation (113). Results: The overall 5-year survival rate was similar in the transplantation group and in the resection group (32% vs. 31%, p = 0.7). However, the 5-year survival rate without recurrence was higher in the transplantation group than in the resection group (60% vs. 14%, p < 0.001). Three independent prognostic factors influenced significantly the survival without recurrence: the surgical treatment by transplantation (p < 0.001), the number of tumors (p < 0.01) and the tumor size (p < 0.001). With these factors we defined a prognostic index (Ip) which allowed assessment of the probability of survival without recurrence: Ip (Xie. x 1.41) + (Nbr T. x 0.19) + (Size TV. x 0.16); Xie = surgical treatment (Xie = 0 if transplantation, Xie = 1 if resection), Nbr.T. and Size TV = number of tumors and size of the most voluminous tumor, respectively, according to the histologic study. Conclusions: These results and this prognostic index are encouraging for liver transplantation as treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in selected patients with cirrhosis.