Prognostic value of lymphovascular invasion in Bismuth-Corlette type Ⅳ hilar cholangiocarcinoma

AIM To assess the prognostic value of lymphovascular invasion(LVI)in Bismuth-Corlette typeⅣhilar cholangiocarcinoma(HC)patients. METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed on 142consecutively recruited typeⅣHC patients undergoing radical resection with at least 5 years of followup.Survival analysis was performed by the KaplanMeier method,and the association between the clinicopathologic variables and survival was evaluated by log-rank test.Multivariate analysis was adopted to identify the independent prognostic factors for overall survival(OS)and disease-free survival(DFS).Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between LVI and potential variables. RESULTS LVI was confirmed histopathologically in 29(20.4%)patients.Multivariate analysis showed that positive resection margin(HR=6.255,95%CI:3.485-11.229,P<0.001),N1 stage(HR=2.902,95%CI:1.132-7.439,P=0.027),tumor size>30 mm(HR=1.942,95%CI:1.176-3.209,P=0.010)and LVI positivity(HR=2.799,95%CI:1.588-4.935,P<0.001)were adverse prognostic factors for DFS.The independent risk factors for OS were positive resection margin(HR=6.776,95%CI:3.988-11.479,P<0.001),N1 stage(HR=2.827,95%CI:1.243-6.429,P=0.013),tumor size>30 mm(HR=1.739,95%CI:1.101-2.745,P=0.018)and LVI positivity(HR=2.908,95%CI:1.712-4.938,P<0.001).LVI was associated with N1 stage and tumor size>30 mm.Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that N1 stage(HR=3.312,95%CI:1.338-8.198,P=0.026)and tumor size>30 mm(HR=3.258,95%CI:1.288-8.236,P=0.013)were associated with LVI. CONCLUSION LVI is associated with N1 stage and tumor size>30mm and adversely influences DFS and OS in typeⅣHC patients.