The effect of tumor location on long-term results of microwave ablation for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

Abstract

To analyze the influence of tumor location, including tumor adjacency and located segments on long-term survival outcomes for patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after microwave ablation (MWA). This retrospective study evaluated 850 patients. The hepatic segments where the tumor is located, tumor adjacency (important tissues adjacent to tumor) and other clinical characteristics were collected. Overall survival (OS), local tumor progression (LTP) and disease-free survival (DFS) were compared and analyzed. Influence of tumor location was evaluated by multi-models and the effect of adjacency for OS, LTP, and DFS in different segments was analyzed by stratification analysis. The OS, LTP, and DFS rates were similar in different hepatic segments, so were in high risk and safe locations. In multi-models, HCC in segment 8 showed lower death rate of 43% than that in segment 2 (HR 0.57; P = 0.01) and tumors in segment 6 seemed to have lower LTP rate. Tumors in high-risk locations were risk factors for OS, LTP, and DFS compared with tumors in safe locations, but all differences were not significant in different models. The effects of tumor adjacency on survival outcomes among subgroups of segments were limited. The tumor adjacency was not a prognostic factor of survival outcomes for patients with solitary tumors after MWA, but tumors in segment 8 seemed to better OS rate than tumors in other segments.