BACKGROUND
Hepatic resection (HR) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is safe with good perioperative and long-term oncologic outcomes. There is a paucity of data with regards to intermediate-term outcomes, i.e. beyond 90-day and within one-year mortality.
OBJECTIVE
This paper studies the risk factors for within one-year mortality after elective HR with curative intent in patients with HCC.
METHODS
An audit of patients who underwent curative HR for HCC from January 2007 to April 2016 was conducted. Univariate and multivariate analysis were sequentially performed on perioperative variables using Cox-regression analysis to identify factors predicting intermediate-term outcomes defined as within one-year mortality. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and hazard ratios were obtained.
RESULTS
348 patients underwent HR during the study period and 163 patients had curative hepatectomy for HCC. 15 patients (9.2%) died within one-year after HR. Multivariate analysis identified Child-Pugh class B/C [HR 5.5, p=0.035], multinodularity [HR 7.1, p=0.001], macrovascular invasion [HR 4.2, p=0.04] post-operative acute renal failure [HR 5.8, p=0.049] and post-hepatic liver failure [HR 9.6, p=0.009] as significant predictors of one-year mortality.
CONCLUSIONS
One-year mortality following HR for HCC remains high and can be predicted preoperatively by multinodularity, Child-Pugh class, and macrovascular invasion. Postoperative acute renal failure and liver failure are associated with one-year mortality.