Comparison of Clinicopathologic Characteristics and Outcomes After Resection in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma Treated in the United States, France, and Japan

In Brief Objective: To compare the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes after resection of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated in the United States, France, and Japan. Summary Background Data: Some epidemiologic data suggests that HCC in different regions of the world may represent different forms of the disease. Methods: We compared the patient and tumor characteristics, underlying liver damage, and surgical outcomes of 586 patients who underwent resection of HCC from a multi-institutional database. Results: A total of 169 patients were treated in the United States, 187 in France, and 230 in Japan. The median tumor size for patients treated in the United States was 8 cm, compared with 6 cm and 3.5 cm in France and Japan, respectively (P < 0.001); 20%, 38%, and 74% of patients in the United States, France, and Japan, respectively, had positive hepatitis C serology (P < 0.001). In addition, 65% of patients in Japan had severe fibrosis/cirrhosis in the adjacent liver compared with 52% and 23% of patients in France and the United States, respectively (P < 0.001). There was no association between site of treatment and 30-day (P = 0.4) or 1-year mortality (P = 0.3). The 5-year survival of patients treated in United States, France, and Japan was not statistically different (31% vs. 31% vs. 41%, respectively; P = 0.3). Conclusions: Although the etiology of HCC and clinicopathologic characteristics of patients treated at western and eastern centers vary widely, postresection 5-year survival is similar when controlling for these factors. Future studies should account for histopathologic differences using uniform criteria to allow better comparison of results. Some epidemiologic data suggests that hepatocellular carcinoma in different regions of the world may represent different forms of the disease. We compared the patient and tumor characteristics, underlying liver damage, and surgical outcomes of 586 patients who underwent resection of hepatocellular carcinoma between 1980 and 1998 at four centers in the United States, France, and Japan. Despite differences in etiology, tumor factors, and underlying liver damage, perioperative outcomes and survival were similar across countries.