Surgical Management of 100 Primary Carcinomas of the Liver; Prognostic factors after hepatic resection for primary liver cancer

Between January 1980 and December 1989, surgical treatment of primary liver cancer was performed in 100 cases including two reoperations. Of these 89 were male and 11 female ; their ages ranged from 5 months to 74 years. Pathological findings showed that 92 of the patients had hepatocellular carcinoma, 6 cholangiocellular carcinoma, and 2 hepatoblastoma ; in 85% of the cases these were associated with cirrhosis. Of the 100 patients, 52 underwent typical resection of the liver, 28 limited resection, and 20 no resection. Follow-up results in resected cases showed that the cumulative survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 66. 6%, 46.7%, and 36. 7%, respectively. Non-resected patients died within 3 years. Various factors w ere evaluated by analysis in respect to cumulative survival, after exclusion of operative deaths, to clarify prognosis after hepatic resection. Factors affecting the outcome were gross tumor findings including tumor size. A better prognosis was associated with encapsulated nodular forms, a tumor size of less than 2cm, and no portal vein and hepatic serosal involvement in the resected specimen.