Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The current study determines the prognostic factors after hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinomas. The 295 patients who underwent hepatectomy from 1973 through 1987 were included for a univariate and a Cox multivariate analysis. The favoring conditions were determined as follows. The essential requirements are (1) the absence of tumor thrombi; (2) no intrahepatic metastasis, but even when present, it should be close to the main tumor and removed with a massive resection; and (3) retention rate of indocyanine green dye (ICG) at 15 minutes should be within 14 +/- 4.2% (M +/- SD) to allow that resection. The desired requirement is that the tumor size should preferably be less than 5 cm; a wider free margin from tumors (greater than or equal to 1 cm) is recommended, but not determining factor. The eligible patients, having no thrombi, no intrahepatic metastasis, a tumor size of 5 cm or less, negative surgical margin (greater than or equal to 1 cm), had achieved a 5-year survival of 78%. In conclusion, resection therapy is the first option for patients with those requirements.
Yamanaka et al. (1990) studied this question.