Influencing factors and prognosis of tumor recurrence after radical resection of primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective To investigate the influencing factors and prognosis of early and late recurrence after radical resection of primary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Methods The clinical data of 117 patients who received radical resection of HCC at the Tongji Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2003 to December 2006 were retrospectively analyzed.Tumor recurrence occurred within 2 years after operation was defined as early recurrence,and tumor recurrence occurred latter than 2 years after operation was defined as late recurrence.Relationship between postoperative tumor recurrence and level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP),AFP/V,tumor diameter,tumor number,blood vessel invasion,tumor differentiation,hepatic cirrhosis,hepatic function,hepatitis B surface antigen,procedure of hepatic resection and blood transfusion was analyzed.The overall survival and disease-free survival rates were determined by Kaplan-Meier method,and the survival rate was analyzed by Log-rank test.Results Eighty-five(72.6％)patients were found with tumor recurrence,including 59(50.4％)with early tumor recurrence and 26(22.2％)with late tumor recurrence.Levels of AFP,AFP/V,tumor diameter,tumor number,blood vessel invasion,tumor differentiation and blood transfusion were the influencing factors of early recurrence(x2 = 12.78,13.40,5.79,9.98,10.26,9.48,8.32,P ＜ 0.05).Level of AFP and hepatic cirrhosis were the influencing factors of late recurrence(x2 =4.46,7.75,P ＜ 0.05).AFP/V,tumor number and blood vessel invasion were the independent risk factors of early recurrence(RR = 0.170,0.172,0.064,P ＜ 0.05).Hepatic cirrhosis was the independent risk factor of late recurrence(RR = 2.809, P ＜ 0.05).The 1-,3-,5-year overall survival rates and tumor-free survival rates were 82.6％,60.8％,54.9％ and 65.0％,38.5％,23.1％.There were significant differences in overall survival and disease-free survival rates among patients with AFP ＜20 μg/L,AFP/V ＜ 14 μg/(L · cm3)or AFP/V ≥ 14 μg/(L · cm3)(P ＜ 0.05).The 1-,3-,5-year overall survival rates of patients with early tumor recurrence were 64.9％,23.0％ and 20.5％,respectively,and the 1-,3-,5-year overall survival rates of patients with late tumor recurrence were 100.0％,88.5％ and 72.5％,respectively.A significant difference in the 1-,3-,5-year overall survival rates between patients with early or late tumor recurrence was observed(x2 = 26.918,P ＜0.05).Conclusions AFP/V,tumor number,blood vessel invasion were independent risk factors of early tumor recurrence,and hepatic cirrhosis was the independent risk factor of late tumor recurrence.There is a significant difference in the survival rate between patients with early or late tumor recurrence. Key words: Liver neoplasms; Hepatectomy; Recurrence; Risk factors