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e16280 Background: Hepatocholangiocarcinoma (HCC-CC) is a rare and aggressive malignancy of the liver that contains histopathological features of both hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment, and the surgical approaches used include radical hepatic resection, laparoscopic, and robotic surgery. There has yet to be a study that explores the impact of demographic features on the choice of surgical modality in patients with HCC-CC. The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was analyzed to determine the effects of demographic features on surgical modality and overall survival. Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis utilizing the NCDB included 2,449 patients diagnosed with HCC-CC (ICD-8180/3) between 2004-2020. Surgical modality was categorized into either open or minimally invasive by the preliminary treatment. Minimally invasive techniques included robotic-assisted and minimally invasive. Race, sex, age at diagnosis, income level, insurance used, distance from the facility, and the status of the facility as an academic center on the surgical modality were compared using Pearson Chi-squared tests or independent samples t-test as pertinent. Multivariate analysis with binary logistic regression was used to analyze the following categorical variables in relation to choice of surgical modality: race, sex, income, insurance, sex, and facility type. Surgical treatment modality on overall survival was analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Exclusion criteria included missing data. Results: Most cases analyzed were White (75.8%), male (67.5%), and had government insurance as the primary payor at diagnosis (60.6%). Of the cases analyzed, 625 underwent surgery (25.5%). Patients who underwent minimally invasive surgery were more likely to be government-insured than patients who underwent open surgery (69.8% vs. 55.6%, P < 0.05). Patients who underwent open surgery were younger on average (61.4 vs. 66.0 years, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in distance from residence to the treatment facility between the two surgical approaches. Multivariate analysis showed that patients treated at academic centers were less likely to receive minimally invasive surgery (28.1%) over open surgery (71.9%; P = 0.041, 95% CI 0.469-0.985) without statistical significance for race, sex, income, or insurance. The average survival time was significantly longer in open vs minimally invasive surgery (67.9 vs. 55.3 months, P < 0.05). Conclusions: We identified that patients who underwent open surgery had significantly better overall survival with an average difference of 12.6 months. Even after accounting for other factors, the choice of surgical modality was significantly influenced by treatment at an academic institution. Patients receiving care at an academic facility are more likely to receive open surgery leading to overall increased survival.
Kurnas et al. (Sat,) studied this question.