Decreased risk of liver and intrahepatic cancer in non-H. pylori-infected perforated peptic ulcer patients with truncal vagotomy: a nationwide study

The vagal nervous system is central to the physiological responses and systemic diseases of the liver. We evaluated the subsequent risk of liver and intrahepatic cancer (HCC/ICC) in non-H. pylori (HP)-infected perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) patients with and without vagotomy. Hospitalized PPU patients who underwent simple closure or truncal vagotomy/pyloroplasty (TVP) in the National Health Insurance Research Database from 2000 to 2008 were enrolled. The exclusion criteria included: (1) Multiple surgeries for PPU were received at the same admission; (2) Any cancer history; (3) Previous peptic ulcer-associated surgery; (4) HP infection history; (5) Viral hepatitis infection history; (6) Follow-up duration < 1 year; and (7) Age < 18 years. The risks of developing HCC/ICC in PPU patients with and without vagotomy were assessed at the end of 2013. To balance the baseline condition between groups, we used the propensity score matched method to select study subjects. Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) of HCC/ICC. Before propensity score matching, 675 simple suture patients and 54 TVP patients had HCC/ICC, which corresponded to incidences of 2.11 and 0.88 per 1000 person-years, respectively. After propensity score matching, 145 simple suture patients and 54 TVP patients experienced HCC/ICC, which corresponded to incidences of 1.45 and 0.88 per 1000 person-years, respectively. The TVP patients had a 0.71 (95% CI 0.54–0.95)- and 0.69 (95% CI 0.49–0.97)-fold risk of developing HCC/ICC compared to simple suture patients before and after propensity score matching. Our findings reported that, in the Asian population, TVP decreases the risk of HCC/ICC in non-HP-infected PPU patients compared to simple closure patients. However, further studies are warranted.