Revisiting Partial Hepatectomy of Large Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Older Patients

Hepatectomy of large hepatocellular carcinomas (>10 cm) in over 70 year-old patients is presumed futile. We retrospectively reviewed 5970 patients with liver tumors Jan 2010 through Dec 2016 in our institute, of them, 37 older patients with large hepatocellular carcinomas staged I-III and Child-Pugh A liver functions receiving conservative treatments (conservative group, n = 37) and 16 older patients with large hepatocellular carcinomas staged I- III who underwent partial hepatectomy (resection group, n = 16) were included, the risk factors for poor survival were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Compared with the conservative treatments, Partial hepatectomy achieved better median survival time (25.5 months versus 11 months, log-rank = 0.0001) and better median performance status (1 versus 3, p = 0.023), there was different in Charlson comorbidity index (p = 0.019). For the conservative group, the 3-month, 1, 2, 3-year survival rate was 78.4%, 43.2%, 5.4%, 0%; for the resection group, The 3-month, 1, 2, 3-year survival rate was 100%, 93.7.2%, 56.3%, 12.5%; Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed the Charlson comorbidity index and the performance status associated with poor outcomes of those patients (p = 0.001, 0.018, respectively). Resections of large hepatocellular carcinomas in older patients can be performed safely to prolong life expectancy and improve life quality with or without cancer recurrence.