Comparison of anatomical resection and non-anatomical resection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: propensity score matching method

Objective: To evaluate the prognosis of anatomical resection (AR) and non-anatomical resection (NAR) of hepatocellular carcinoma. Method: We carried-out a retrospective study on a prospective database between May 2002 and December 2016. A propensity score matching (PSM) was performed to compare the outcomes between the groups to avoid possible confusion biases, because of non-random assignment. Results: We included 86 patients, divided into two groups: 39 in the AR group and 47 in the NAR group. After PSM, 17 were selected into each group. There were no differences in any of the demographic and tumor variables. Overall survival (OS) after PSM was 93.9 and 55.9% at 1 and 5 years, and overall disease-free survival (DFS) was 91 and 45.7%, respectively. There were no differences in OS and DFS between groups (p = 0.47 and p = 0.31). The regression analysis did not observe differences between the groups in OS (p = 0.47), nor in DFS (p = 0.31). No differences were observed between the groups in recurrences. NAR was tended to recurrence before and after PSM. The time of recurrence was similar between the groups. Conclusions: The resection method does not influence in the long-term outcomes nor the recurrence.