Survival benefit of transplantation for recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver resection

Short-term outcomes after major hepatic resection in patients with cirrhosis: a 75-case unicentric western experience

BACKGROUND

The benefit of performing major hepatic resection (MHR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with cirrhosis remains controversial because of its high risk of posthepatectomy liver failure (PHLF). This study was conducted to assess the risk of MHR for HCC in patients with cirrhosis.

METHODS

Patients with Child-Pugh A or B cirrhosis and HCC who underwent MHR from January 2000 to June 2014 were retrospectively identified. Risk factors for postoperative morbidity and mortality using univariate and multivariate analyses were evaluated.

RESULTS

Seventy patients with Child-Pugh A (93%) and 5 (7%) with Child-Pugh B cirrhosis underwent MHR for HCC. Thirteen (17%) had Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage A, 39 (50%) had BCLC B, and 23 (32%) had BCLC C disease. A perioperative blood transfusion was performed in 18 patients (24%). Ninety-day postoperative mortality was 9% (n=7). Major complications occurred in 16 patients (21%), including PHLF in 9 patients (12%). A multivariate analysis showed that perioperative blood transfusion was the main independent factor associated with mortality (OR= 6.5) and major morbidity (OR=10).

CONCLUSION

In selected patients with HCC and cirrhosis, MHR is feasible and has acceptable mortality, but careful perioperative management and limiting blood loss are required.

Prophylactic liver transplantation for high-risk recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the world. Radical treatment of HCC in early stages results in a long disease-free period and improved overall survival. The choice of optimal management strategy for HCC mainly depends on the severity of the underlying liver disease. For patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and HCC within Milan criteria (MC), liver transplant (LT) is the choice of treatment. However, for patients with good residual liver reserve and HCC within MC, selection of other curative treatments such as liver resection (LR) or radiofrequency ablation may be a reasonable alternative. For patients without cirrhosis, LR can result in an overall survival similar to that provided by LT. Therefore, it is an accepted alternative to LT especially in areas with organ shortage. However, the cumulative 5-year recurrence rate of HCC post LR might be as high as 70%. For initial transplant-eligible (within MC) patients with recurrent HCC post LR, salvage liver transplant (SLT) was first proposed in 2000. However, most patients with recurrent HCC considered for SLT are untransplantable cases due to HCC recurrence beyond MC or comorbidity. Thus, the strategy of opting for SLT results in the loss of the opportunity of LT for these patients. Some authors proposed the concept of “de principe liver transplant” (i.e., prophylactic LT before HCC recurrence) to prevent losing the chance of LT for these potential candidates. Factors associated with the failure of SLT will be dissected and discussed in three parts: Patient, tumor, and underlying liver disease. Regarding patient-related factors, the rate of transplantability depends on patient compliance. Patients without regular follow-up tend to develop HCC recurrence beyond MC at the time of tumor detection. Advancing age is another factor related to severe comorbidities when LT is considered for HCC recurrence, and these elderly candidates become ineligible as time goes by. Regarding tumor-related factors, histopathological features of the resected specimen are used mostly for determining the prognosis of early HCC recurrences. Such prognostic factors include the presence of microvascular invasion, poor tumor differentiation, the presence of microsatellites, the presence of multiple tumors, and the presence of the gene-expressing signature associated with aggressive HCC. These prognostic factors might be used as a selection tool for SLT or prophylactic LT, while remaining mindful of the fact that most of them are also prognostic factors for post-transplant HCC recurrence. Regarding underlying liver disease-related factors, progression of chronic viral hepatitis and high viral load may contribute to the development of late (de novo) HCC recurrence as a consequence of sustained inflammatory reaction. However, correlation between the severity of liver fibrosis and tumor recurrence is still controversial. Some prognostic scoring systems that integrate these three factors have been proposed to predict recurrence patterns after LR for HCC. Theoretically, after excluding patients with high risk of post-transplant HCC recurrence, either by observation of a cancer-free period or by measurement of biological factors (such as alpha fetoprotein), prophylactic LT following curative resection of HCC could be considered for selected patients with high risk of recurrence to provide longer survival.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients May Benefit From Postoperative Huaier Aqueous Extract After Liver Transplantation

BACKGROUND

Liver transplantation has been the first choice for most early- or intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases. However, postoperative anti-HCC therapies remain controversial. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Huaier aqueous extract (Jinke), when used as an adjuvant postoperative anti-HCC therapy.

METHODS

We retrospectively collected the clinical and follow-up data of HCC patients who underwent liver transplantation at our center. We divided them into 2 groups: a control liver transplantation group and a Huaier treatment group. The baseline characteristics, tumor characteristics, intraoperative data, postoperative recovery, long-term overall survival rate, and tumor-free survival rate were compared between the 2 groups.

RESULTS

Fifty-three patients were included in our study, including 28 patients who underwent postoperative Huaier therapy and 25 patients who underwent liver transplantation without postoperative Huaier therapy. The baseline and tumor characteristics were similar between the 2 groups. None of the patients in the Huaier group experienced any severe adverse events. The long-term predictive overall survival was similar between the 2 groups (P = .202). However, the Huaier group had a higher predictive tumor-free survival rate than the control group (P = .029). And the 10- and 30-month predictive tumor recurrence rates were 17.9% and 35.7% in the Huaier group, which were significantly lower than those in the control group (60% and 64%; P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

HCC patients may benefit from Huaier therapy after liver transplantation, but a longer follow-up time and larger cohort study may be necessary to be sure.

Liver resection for intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in China. The Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system is regarded as the gold standard staging system for HCC, classifying HCC as early, intermediate, or advanced. For intermediate HCC, trans-catheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is recommended as the optimal strategy by the BCLC guideline. This review investigates whether liver resection is better than TACE for intermediate HCC. Based on published studies, we compare the survival benefits and complications of liver resection and TACE for intermediate HCC. We also compare the survival benefits of liver resection in early and intermediate HCC. We find that liver resection can achieve better or at least comparable survival outcomes compared with TACE for intermediate HCC; however, we do not observe a significant difference between liver resection and TACE in terms of safety and morbidity. We conclude that liver resection may improve the short- and long-term survival of carefully selected intermediate HCC patients, and the procedure may be safely performed in the management of intermediate HCC.