Prognostic factors after liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: a single-center experience from China

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to clarify the risk factors for survival and recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a cohort of Chinese HCC patients after hepatectomy and to compare 6 developed staging systems. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 165 consecutive patients. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival. Postoperative prognostic factors were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. The overall predictive power of each staging system was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. RESULTS: The overall survival rates of 1, 3, and 5 years were 81.2%, 58.6%, and 56.7%, respectively, and the corresponding disease-free survival rates were 52.9%, 23.3%, and 15.5%, respectively. alpha-fetoprotein level and blood transfusion were correlated significantly with patients' overall survival, and portal vein thrombosis and tumor size (>5 cm) were correlated significantly with poor disease-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: The French staging system is better for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients receiving surgical treatment. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.