Abstract

BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma is the most frequent primary tumour of the liver. Although often associated with chronic liver disease, it can also occur in non-cirrhotic livers. The aim of this study was to describe post-operative morbidity (POM), and survival of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver treated surgically, and to identify variables associated with prognosis. MethodsCase series of patients who underwent surgery for hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver at Clinica RedSalud Mayor de Temuco, Chile (2001-2017), were studied. The minimum follow-up time considered was 12months. Principal outcomes were development of POM and survival. Other variables of interest were age, sex, tumour diameter, surgical time, hospital stay, follow-up time, need for surgical re-intervention, mortality, vascular and lymph node invasion and staging. Descriptive and analytic statistics were calculated. ResultsA total of 32 patients were studied. They were characterized by a mean age of 67.37.2years, 62.5% of whom were men. Averages of tumour diameter, surgical time and hospitalization were 12.0 +/- 2.6 cm, 114.4 +/- 32.3 min and 7.2 +/- 2.9days, respectively. POM was 31.3%. There was no mortality and there were no re-interventions. The overall actuarial survival at 1, 2 and 3 years was 96.8%, 73.4% and 17.3%, respectively. Lower survival was verified in patients with vascular invasion, lymph node infiltration and stages III and IVa. ConclusionDespite the tumour diameter and extent of the resections, POM in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic liver is moderate. However, its prognosis is poor. Vascular invasion, lymph node invasion and advances stages were associated with worse survival.