Clinical Impact of Anatomical Liver Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Pathologically Proven Portal Vein Invasion

Portal vein invasion (PVI) is known to be a poor prognostic factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Anatomical liver resection (ALR) is a preferable procedure for treating HCC. However, the effect of ALR for HCC with PVI has not been fully evaluated. The aim of this study is to investigate the survival benefit of ALR for HCC patients with or without pathologically proven portal vein invasion (pPVI). Curative hepatic resection was performed for a single HCC in 313 patients. The patients were divided into two groups according to the absence or presence of pPVI (absence: n = 216, presence: n = 97). These groups were then subclassified by the surgical procedures employed (ALR or non-ALR), and the clinical characteristics and stratified prognoses were compared according to the surgical procedure between the subgroups. Uni- and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the significant prognostic factors. Among the patients without pPVI, there was no significant difference in postoperative survival between the groups. However, among the patients with pPVI, both the 5-year overall and recurrence-free survival rates in the ALR group were significantly higher than those in the non-ALR group (46.1 % vs. 16.3 %; p = 0.0019 and 33.8 % vs. 0 %; p = 0.0010). Multivariate analyses revealed that tumor differentiation and intraoperative blood loss (IOB) were associated with postoperative survival in patients without pPVI. On the other hand, in patients with pPVI, ALR, serum AFP level, and IOB were associated with postoperative survival. ALR confers a survival benefit for HCC patients with pPVI.