Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Aug 2022)

Extending Surgical Resection for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Beyond Barcelona Clinic for Liver Cancer (BCLC) Stage A: A Novel Application of the Modified BCLC Staging System

  • Wee IJY,
  • Moe FNN,
  • Sultana R,
  • Ang RWT,
  • Quek PPS,
  • Goh BKP,
  • Chan CY,
  • Cheow PC,
  • Chung AYF,
  • Jeyaraj PR,
  • Koh YX,
  • Mack POP,
  • Ooi LLPJ,
  • Tan EK,
  • Teo JY,
  • Kam JH,
  • Chua JSS,
  • Ng AWY,
  • Goh JSQ,
  • Chow PKH

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 9
pp. 839 – 851

Abstract

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Ian JY Wee,1 Fiona NN Moe,1 Rehena Sultana,2 Reiko WT Ang,1 Pearly PS Quek,3 Brian Kim Poh Goh,1 Chung Yip Chan,1 Peng Chung Cheow,1 Alexander YF Chung,1 Prema Raj Jeyaraj,1 Ye Xin Koh,1 Peter OP Mack,1 London Lucien PJ Ooi,1 Ek Khoon Tan,1 Jin Yao Teo,1 Juinn Huar Kam,1 Jacelyn SS Chua,1 Ashley WY Ng,1 Jade SQ Goh,1 Pierce KH Chow1,4 1Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplantation Surgery, Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; 2Center of Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore; 3Ministry of Health Holdings, Singapore, Singapore; 4Surgery Academic Clinical Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, SingaporeCorrespondence: Pierce KH Chow, Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore, 169610, Singapore, Tel +65 6576 2151, Email [email protected]: We aimed to prognosticate survival after surgical resection of HCC stratified by stage with amalgamation of the modified Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system and location of tumour.Methods: This single-institutional retrospective cohort study included patients with HCC who underwent surgical resection between 1st January 2000 to 30th June 2016. Participants were divided into 6 different subgroups: A-u) Within MC with Unilobar lesions; A-b) Within MC + Bilobar lesions; B1-u) Out of MC + within Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B1-b) Out of MC + within Up-to-7 + Bilobar lesions; B2-u) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B2-b) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Bilobar lesions. A separate survival analysis was conducted for solitary HCC lesions according to three subgroups: A-S (Within MC); B1-S (Out of MC + within Up-To-7); B2-S (Out of MC + out of Up-To-7).Results: A total of 794 of 1043 patients with surgical resection for HCC were analysed. Groups A-u (64.6%), A-b (58.4%) and B1-u (56.2%) had 5-year cumulative overall survival (OS) rates above 50% after surgical resection and median OS exceeding 60 months (P = 0.0001). The 5-year cumulative recurrence-free survival rates (RFS) were 40.4% (group A-u), 38.2% (group A-b), 36.3% (group B1-u), 24.6% (group B2-u), and 7.3% (group B2-b)(P=0.0001). For solitary lesions, the 5-year OS for the subgroups were A-S (65.1%), B1-S (56.0%) and B2-S (47.1%) (P = 0.0003). Compared to A-S, there was also a significant trend towards relatively poorer OS as the lesion sizes increased in B1-S (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.03– 2.08) and B2-S (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.25– 2.18).Conclusion: We adopted a novel approach combining the modified BCLC B sub-classification and dispersion of tumour to show that surgical resection in intermediate stage HCC can be robustly prognosticated. We found that size prognosticates resection outcomes in solitary tumours.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, surgical resection, Barcelona clinic liver cancer

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