Two Cases of Early Recurred Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Surgical Resection Which Showed Different Outcomes

ABSTRACT

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has poor prognosis, even after curative resection. Early recurrence after curative treatment is a major cause of the poor prognosis. Pathologic factors such as vessel invasion, satellite nodule, size of tumor and pathologic grade are prognostic factors predicting early recurrence and poor prognosis. We share our experience of two cases which both showed early recurrence after curative hepatic resection, but eventually demonstrated different prognosis. Since the most common cause of death after potentially curative treatment is tumor recurrence, suppression of tumor recurrence might be linked to survival gain. Currently, there is no adjuvant therapy for HCC endorsed by international guidelines. However, recent studies have shown that antiviral treatment for hepatitis B virus-related HCC and immunotherapy using autologous cytokine-induced killer cell reduced HCC recurrence. Further study is needed to select patients who will benefit from adjuvant treatments.