Microscopic vascular invasion may not be associated with survival of patients undergoing resection for solitary hepatoma of ≤ 2 cm

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact of microvascular invasion (MVI) on outcome in patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of ≤ 2 cm undergoing liver resection (LR). METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled consecutive patients between 2007–2019 with newly diagnosed solitary HCC ≤ 2 cm who were undergoing LR at our institution. Overall survival (OS) and recurrent-free survival (RFS) were compared between patients with or without MVI. RESULTS: Of the 229 patients included in this study, 71 had MVI. The median follow-up period was 28.8 months (interquartile range: 13.5–70.1). Although the 90-day mortality rate was 0, 18 deaths occurred during the study, and the 5-year survival rate was 87.1%. Tumor recurrence occurred in 45 cases, and 5-year RFS was 71.9%. The presence or absence of MVI did not significantly affect the OS and RFS rates (log rank test, p = 0.10 and 0.38, respectively). In univariate and multivariate analysis, the presence of MVI was not associated with OS and RFS. CONCLUSION: The presence of MVI was not associated with OS and RFS in patients with solitary HCC ≤ 2 cm who underwent LR in this cohort.