Postoperative prediction of and strategy for metastatic recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma according to histologic activity of hepatitis

• Published in: Cancer Vol. 86; no. 2; pp. 248 - 254
• Main Authors: Ueno, Shinichi, Tanabe, Gen, Yoshida, Aichi, Yoshidome, Shinrou, Takao, Sonshin, Aikou, Takashi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 15.07.1999; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Aged; Antineoplastic Agents - administration & dosage; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - pathology; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular - surgery; Catheters, Indwelling; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Female; Gastroenterology. Liver. Pancreas. Abdomen; Hepatitis - classification; Hepatitis - pathology; hepatitis activity index score; hepatocellular carcinoma; Humans; intrahepatic recurrence; Liver; Liver Neoplasms - drug therapy; Liver Neoplasms - pathology; Liver Neoplasms - surgery; Liver. Biliary tract. Portal circulation. Exocrine pancreas; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; multicentric occurrence; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Prognosis; Prospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Tumors; Antineoplastic agent; Histological grading; Human; Drug combination; Mitomycin; Prognosis; Adjuvant treatment; Hepatic disease; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Malignant tumor; Metastasis; Recurrent; Cisplatin; Pathology; Hepatitis; Antibiotic; Chemotherapy; Histopathology; Treatment; Surgery; Digestive diseases; Intrahepatic; Platinum II Complexes
• ISSN: 0008-543X; 1097-0142
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19990715)86:2<248::AID-CNCR8>3.0.CO;2-1

BACKGROUND The hepatitis activity index (HAI) score describes the histologic status of accompanying chronic hepatitis and was established by pathologists. The aim of this study was twofold: 1) to investigate the correlation between intrahepatic metastatic recurrence (IM) and the HAI score of the noncancerous region of the liver and 2) to estimate the usefulness of postoperative preventive chemotherapy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS The study included 158 consecutive patients who underwent curative resection for HCC and had been observed for > 1 year. Based on the HAI scores of the noncancerous region the patients were classified into 3 groups: those with mild hepatitis (n = 33) (i.e., with HAI scores of 0–5), those with moderate hepatitis (n = 77) (with HAI scores of 6–9), and those with severe hepatitis (n = 48) (those with HAI scores of ≥10). In addition, a prospective randomized trial of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy was performed for 21 patients with moderate hepatitis. RESULTS The patients in the moderate hepatitis group were found to be at higher risk for IM recurrence within 2 years after HCC resection compared with those patients in the mild (P = 0.05) and severe (P < 0.01) hepatitis groups. The incidences of more than two tumors and portal vein involvement in patients with moderate hepatitis were much higher than in those patients with mild or severe hepatitis. Multivariate analysis showed that intraoperative bleeding volume, the number of nodules, portal vein involvement, and moderate hepatitis were independent predictive factors for IM recurrence free survival. Ten patients with moderate hepatitis had received postoperative intrahepatic arterial chemotherapy (2–3 courses with a maximum dose of 80 mg of cisplatin and 10 mg of mitomycin C at 1‐month intervals) for the last 3 years. Although the number of patients was small, the therapy improved the disease free survival rate significantly compared with 11 patients who received no therapy. CONCLUSIONS The patients with moderate hepatitis (HAI score of 6–9) had the highest rate of IM recurrence among the three HAI groups. Postoperative hepatic arterial chemotherapy may be useful in improving the rate of disease free survival after surgery among these patients. Cancer 1999;86:248–54. © 1999 American Cancer Society. Moderate hepatitis (hepatitis activity index score of 6–9) was associated with increasing intrahepatic recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Postoperative hepatic arterial chemotherapy may be a useful strategy for improving the disease free survival rate after surgery.