Hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma in Taiwan

Aims: We examined the clinical features and outcome of 80 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who had undergone hepatic resection; 32 patients were under 30 years old (younger-HCC), and 48 patients were over 70 years (elderly-HCC). Methods: Clinical features of 32 cases of younger-HCC (less than 30 years old) and 48 elderly-HCC (over 70 years old) were reviewed between 1986 and 1999. The clinical features, pathological findings and outcome of the younger and elderly HCC patients were summarized for comparison. Results: Of 573 HCC patients who underwent hepatic resection, 32 were younger than 30 years old and 48 older than 70 years. Less hepatitis B infection, higher hepatitis C infection, more liver cirrhosis development, and a higher ICG 15 min retention ratio than the younger group. The younger group tended to have a larger tumor size, more major hepatectomy, more operative blood loss during operation, more perioperative blood transfusion, and more recurrence when compared with the elderly-HCC group. The elderly-HCC group had a significantly better disease-free survival rate than the younger-HCC group. The younger-HCC group had a similar overall survival rate to the elderly-HCC group. Conclusions: These results seem to indicate a possible difference in the HCC carcinogenesis between younger and elderly patients. The overall survival of the younger HCC patients who undergone hepatic resection was as favorable as that of the elderly.