Impact of advanced age on the short- and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a single-center analysis over a 20-year period

• The 90-day mortality after hepatectomy for HCC was zero in elderly patients.
• The recurrence rates and sites of recurrence were similar between the 2 groups.
• The 5-year survival rate was lower in the elderly than that in younger patients.
• The death rate from other causes was higher in the elderly.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of age on both the risk of hepatectomy and the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).MethodsPatients undergoing an initial hepatectomy for HCC were classified into 2 age groups: 75 years or over (n = 113) and less than 75 years (n = 499).ResultsA zero 90-day mortality was achieved in the elderly. Although the recurrence rate and recurrence sites were almost similar between the 2 groups, the 5-year survival rate in the elderly patients was significantly lower than that in the younger patients (46.0% vs 57.6%; P = .018), possibly because of the higher incidence of deaths from other causes (26.8% vs 10.4%; P = .011) in the elderly.ConclusionSelected elderly HCC patients can undergo a hepatectomy safely and can benefit from long-term HCC control comparable with that of their younger counterparts.