Impact of Statins on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Living-Donor Liver Transplantation

BACKGROUND: Liver transplantation (LT) has been validated widely all over the world as the curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Statins have been reported to prevent the progression of HCC. There are many factors that affect recurrence of HCC, but the precise role of statins is unknown. Therefore, we examined whether statin therapy is associated with decreased HCC recurrence in patients who underwent living-donor LT (LDLT) for HCC. MATERIAL/METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 844 HCC patients who underwent primary adult-to-adult LDLT in our center between January 2007 and December 2016. Statin therapy was defined as administration of statins for more than 30 cumulative defined daily doses (cDDDs) after LT. We compared HCC recurrence and patient survival between non-statin (n=334) and statin (n=52) groups. RESULTS: The recurrence rate was higher in the non-statin group; however, time-dependent multivariate analysis with Kaplan-Meier curves showed that statin users did not significantly benefit in terms of HCC recurrence-related survival or overall survival. Further, risk factor analysis of HCC recurrence and patient survival confirmed multiple regional treatments (≥3 times), high alpha fetoprotein level (≥100 ng/mL), large tumor size (≥3 cm), and microvascular invasion as risk factors for HCC recurrence, but statin treatment was not associated with a significantly lower recurrence rate of HCC or reduced mortality after adjusting for other risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Statin use might be associated with prevention of HCC progression, but no significant decrease in HCC recurrence rates in LDLT patients was recorded in this study.