Excessive Visceral Adipose Tissue Accumulation Increases the Risk of Recurrence and Mortality After Curative Treatment for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease-Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Aim: We investigated the effect of body composition, including skeletal muscle index (SMI) and visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue indices (VATI and SATI, respectively), on recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods: This study included 67 patients with MASLD-associated HCC who received curative treatment. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate whether body composition (SMI, SATI, and VATI), albumin-bilirubin score, alpha-fetoprotein level, and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) score were associated with RFS and OS. The optimal VATI cutoff value yielding the most significant differences in RFS was determined separately for males and females using maximally selected statistics. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences between survival curves were evaluated using the log-rank test.

Results: VATI was independently associated with RFS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.020; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.004-1.036; and p = 0.014) and OS (HR, 1.019; 95% CI, 1.001-1.038; and p = 0.039), along with PIVKA-II. The high VATI group (≥ 70.9 cm²/m² for males and ≥ 71.2 cm²/m² for females) had a significantly shorter RFS (p < 0.001) and OS (p = 0.017) than the low VATI group. The high VATI group had significantly more cases of diabetes (p = 0.001), with no significant difference in the incidence of hypertension or hyperlipidemia.

Conclusions: Excessive visceral adipose tissue accumulation increases the risk of recurrence and mortality after curative treatment for MASLD-associated HCC.