Original researchPrognostic impact of hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: The role of the surgeon in achieving R0 resection - A retrospective cohort study

- Developments in therapies had led to improvement in long-term survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
- The role of the surgeon has not been well studied in improving the survival outcome.
- The results of this study indicated that surgeons played an important role in long-term survival of patients with HCC.

IntroductionImprovement in long-term survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has followed the developments in surgical techniques and multidisciplinary therapies. The role of the surgeon has rarely been studied and to fill this research gap we offer this study which has reviewed the outcome of surgery in attempted curative resection for this condition.MethodsThe clinical data of patients who underwent partial hepatectomy for HCC from January 2003 to December 2010 at the First People's Hospital of Foshan were collected and retrospectively analyzed.ResultsOf 104 HCC patients, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year disease free survival (DFS) rates were 64.8%, 45.5%, and 38.5%, respectively, and the 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 86.3%, 63.6%, and 57.2%, respectively. Negative resection margin and tumor TNM stage were independent prognostic factors of DFS and OS (P < 0.0001).ConclusionsNegative resection margin and tumor TNM stage were the two most significant prognostic factors of survival in HCC patients after partial hepatectomy. As TNM stage is a factor not subjected to control, surgeons can improve the long-term survival of patients with HCC by ensuring an appropriate negative resection margin.