Background: More than two decades have gone by since the early report of resection for small hepatocel- lular carcinoma (HCC), which resulted in improved prognosis of HCC. Objective: To review the past and recent data...Background: More than two decades have gone by since the early report of resection for small hepatocel- lular carcinoma (HCC), which resulted in improved prognosis of HCC. Objective: To review the past and recent data, and prospect the future in this field. Data sources: Literature and recent data from the Liver Cancer Institute of Fudan University, Shang- hai, China. Data synthesis: 1232 patients with small HCC from the institute were analyzed between 1960-1984 (n= 107) and 1985-1999 (n=1125). The increase of li- mited resection rate from 69.5 % to 82.5 % contribu- ted in part to the increase of resectability from 76.6 % to 95.5 %, decrease of operative mortality from 2.4 % to 1.2 %, and improvement of 5-year sur- vival after resection (from 53.1% to 64.0%). The 5-year survival was higher after limited resection than after lobectomy, being 64.4 % versus 55.9%. The 5-year survival after resection was superior to that after cryosurgery and other regional cancer therapies (32.8 %). However, molecular studies found that biological characteristics were only slightly better in small HCC than in large HCC. Conclusions: Resection remains the treatment choice for small HCC with compensated liver function, while regional cancer therapies and liver transplanta- tion are alternatives for patients with incompensated liver function. Biological characteristics remain the leading factor influencing prognosis of small HCC.展开更多
文摘Background: More than two decades have gone by since the early report of resection for small hepatocel- lular carcinoma (HCC), which resulted in improved prognosis of HCC. Objective: To review the past and recent data, and prospect the future in this field. Data sources: Literature and recent data from the Liver Cancer Institute of Fudan University, Shang- hai, China. Data synthesis: 1232 patients with small HCC from the institute were analyzed between 1960-1984 (n= 107) and 1985-1999 (n=1125). The increase of li- mited resection rate from 69.5 % to 82.5 % contribu- ted in part to the increase of resectability from 76.6 % to 95.5 %, decrease of operative mortality from 2.4 % to 1.2 %, and improvement of 5-year sur- vival after resection (from 53.1% to 64.0%). The 5-year survival was higher after limited resection than after lobectomy, being 64.4 % versus 55.9%. The 5-year survival after resection was superior to that after cryosurgery and other regional cancer therapies (32.8 %). However, molecular studies found that biological characteristics were only slightly better in small HCC than in large HCC. Conclusions: Resection remains the treatment choice for small HCC with compensated liver function, while regional cancer therapies and liver transplanta- tion are alternatives for patients with incompensated liver function. Biological characteristics remain the leading factor influencing prognosis of small HCC.
