Longterm Favorable Results of Limited Hepatic Resections for Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: 20 Years of Experience

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Recently, anatomic resection has been, in theory, considered preferable for eradicating portal venous tumor extension and intrahepatic metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We have reported the effectiveness of limited hepatic resection for cirrhotic patients with HCC. A retrospective study was carried out in 321 patients who underwent curative hepatic resection (anatomic resection, n=201; limited resection, n=120) as the initial treatment for solitary HCC<5 cm in our institution in the period 1985 to 2004 (median followup period 5.1 years). Anatomic resection did not influence overall and recurrence-free survival rates after hepatic resection. In the liver damage A group (n=215), both 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival rates in the anatomic resection group were considerably better than those in the limited resection group (87% versus 76%, p=0.02, and 63% versus 35%, p<0.01, respectively). In the liver damage B group (n=106), both 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival rates in the anatomic resection group were substantially worse than those in the limited resection group (48% versus 72%, p<0.01, and 28% versus 43%, p=0.01, respectively). The results of multivariate analysis revealed that anatomic resection was a notably poor factor in promoting recurrence-free survival in patients with liver damage B. Anatomic resection should be recommended for noncirrhotic patients (liver damage A) with HCC. Longterm results of limited hepatic resection proved its validity for cirrhotic patients (liver damage B) with HCC.