ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the efficacies of hepatectomy and liver transplantation for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) fulfilling the Milan criteria.Methods From July 2002 to February 2009,121 patients with HCC combined with hepatic cirrhosis fulfilling the Milan criteria were admitted to the Fuzhou General Hospital.Eighty-nine patients who received hepatectomy were in the hepatectomy group,and 32 patients who received liver transplantation were in the liver transplantation group.There were no significant difference in the age,gender,etiology of liver disease,the size of the largest tumor,number of tumors,microscopic venous invasion,microsatellite lesion and tumor differentiation between the 2 groups.The clinical data of the patients in the 2 groups were retrospectively analyzed.The overall survival and disease-free survival were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method,and differences in survival rates between the 2 groups were determined by Log-rank test.COX proportional hazard was used for univariate and multivariate analysis to evaluate the risk factors for prognosis.Results The median period of follow-up was 37 months.The 1-,3-,5-year survival rates were 86％,63％ and 44％ in the hepatectomy group,and 87％,70％ and 62％ in the liver transplantation group.There was no significant difference in the overall survival rate between the 2 groups (x2 =1.092,P ＞ 0.05).The 1-,3-,5-year disease-free survival rates were 68％,44％ and 26％ in the hepatectomy group,and 80％,65％ and 52％ in the liver transplantation group.There was a significant difference in the disease-free survival rate between the 2 groups (x2 =4.712,P ＜ 0.05).The result of univariate analysis revealed that microscopic venous invasion and microsatellite lesion were significantly correlated with the survival (Wald =9.625,7.340,P ＜ 0.05),and the result of multivariate analysis indicated that microscopic venous invasion was the independent risk factor influencing the survival (Wald =5.008,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions As for patients with HCC fulfilling the Milan criteria,the overall survival rate of patients who received hepatectomy is not different from those who received liver transplantation,but the disease-free survival rate of patients who received liver transplantation is higher than those who received hepatectomy.Microscopic venous invasion is an independent risk factor influencing the survival.