Purpose: In this study, we tried to identify the preoperative predictors of hepatic venous trunk invasion and the prognostic factors in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that had come into contact with the trunk of a major hepatic vein over a distance of 1.0 cm or more.
Methods: Forty patients who had such HCCs resected were entered into this study and predictors of hepatic venous trunk invasion and prognostic factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results and conclusions: A combined resection of the HCC and the venous trunk was performed in 29 patients. Hepatic venous trunk invasion was observed in 12 patients, including 2 with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus. A stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that tumors larger than or equal to 7 cm in diameter and tumors showing a poorly differentiated histological grade were independent predictors of hepatic venous trunk invasion. The survival of patients without venous trunk invasion was significantly better than that for patients with venous trunk invasion (P = 0.048). A univariate analysis revealed that Child-Pugh classification B (P = 0.002), a high des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin concentration (> or =400 mAU/ml, P = 0.023), a large HCC (> or =5.0 cm in diameter, P = 0.002), the presence of portal vein invasion (P < 0.001), the presence of venous trunk invasion (P = 0.048), the presence of intrahepatic metastasis (P < 0.001), and poorly differentiated HCC (P = 0.006) correlated with a worse overall survival after hepatic resection. In a multivariate analysis, however, only the presence of intrahepatic metastasis (P = 0.037, relative risk 8.25) was an independent predictor of poor overall survival.
Conclusions: Large tumors (> or =7 cm in diameter) and poorly differentiated HCCs were more likely to be associated with hepatic venous trunk invasion and intrahepatic metastasis was an independent prognostic factor in patients with HCC that had come into contact with the trunk of a major hepatic vein.