Published online Jul 21, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i27.4400
Revised: April 27, 2013
Accepted: June 18, 2013
Published online: July 21, 2013
AIM: Our study aimed to compare the results of liver transplantation (LT) and liver resection (LR) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that met the Milan criteria after successful downstaging therapy.
METHODS: From February 2004 to August 2010, a consecutive series of 102 patients were diagnosed with advanced-stage HCC that met the modified UCSF down-staging protocol inclusion criteria. All of the patients accepted various down-staging therapies. The types and numbers of treatments were tailored to each patient according to the tumor characteristics, location, liver function and response. After various downstaging therapies, 66 patients had tumor characteristics that met the Milan criteria; 31 patients accepted LT in our center, and 35 patients accepted LR. The baseline characteristics, down-staging protocols, postoperative complications, overall survival and tumor free survival rate, and tumor recurrence rate were compared between the two groups. Kaplan-Meier analyses were used to estimate the long-term overall survival and tumor-free survival rate. Meanwhile, a Cox proportional hazards model was used for the multivariate analyses of overall survival and disease-free survival rate.
RESULTS: No significant difference was observed between the LT and LR groups with respect to the down-staging protocol, target tumor characteristics, and baseline patient characteristics. Fifteen patients suffered various complications after LT, and 8 patients had complications after LR. The overall complication rate for the LT group was 48.4%, which was significantly higher than the LR group (22.9%) (P = 0.031). The overall in-hospital mortality in hospital for the LT group was 12.9% vs 2.9% for the LR group (P = 0.172). The overall patient survival rates at 1-, 3- and 5-years were 87.1%, 80.6% and 77.4%, respectively, after LT and 91.4%, 77.1% and 68.6%, respectively, after LR (P = 0.498). The overall 1-, 3- and 5-year tumor recurrence-free rates were also comparable (P = 0.656). Poorer tumor differentiation (P = 0.041) and a higher post-downstage alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level (> 400 ng/mL) (P = 0.015) were the two independent risk factors for tumor recurrence in the LT and LR patients who accepted successful down-staging therapy.
CONCLUSION: Due to the higher postoperative morbidity and similar survival and tumor recurrence-free rates, LR might offer better or similar outcome over LT, but a larger number and further randomized studies may be needed in the future for drawing any positive conclusions.
Core tip: We compared advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients who underwent liver transplantation (LT) or liver resection (LR) after successful downstaging therapy, and the recurrence rates and survival outcomes were similar, although the postoperative complication rate was higher for the LT group. The Milan criteria are one of the most strict and accepted criteria for HCC patients to determine eligibility for LT or LR. Therefore, our use of this selection criteria may make this study more ideal than others. Meanwhile, all of our patients accepted successful pre-operative down-staging therapy, the long waiting time can successful avoid the selective bias. So our comparison and results are more credible.