<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To compare the clinicopathological features and
prognosis between younger and
aged patients with
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).</p><p><b>
METHODS</b>We analyzed the outcome of 451 HCC
patients underwent
liver resection, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and
radiofrequency ablation, respectively. Then
risk factors for
aged and younger
patients'
survival were evaluated by
multivariate analysis, respectively.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The
patients who were older than 55 years old were defined as the older group. The overall
survival for
aged patients was significantly worse than those younger
patients. The younger
patients had
similar liver functional reserve but more aggressive
tumor factors than
aged patients. Cox
regression analysis showed that the elevated levels of
aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (Wald χ2 = 3.963, P = 0.047,
hazard ratio [HR] =1.453, 95%
confidence interval [CI] 1.006-2.098), lower
albumin (Wald χ2 = 12.213, P < 0.001, HR = 1.982, 95% CI 1.351-2.910),
tumor size (Wald χ2 = 8.179, P = 0.004, HR = 1.841, 95% CI 1.212-2.797), and higher
alpha-fetoprotein level (Wald χ2 = 4.044, P = 0.044, HR = 1.465, 95% CI 1.010-2.126) were independent
prognostic factors for
aged patients, while only elevated levels of AST (Wald χ2 = 14.491, P < 0.001, HR = 2.285, 95% CI 1.493-3.496) and
tumor size (Wald χ2 = 21.662, P < 0.001, HR = 2.928, 95% CI 1.863-4.604) were independent
prognostic factors for younger
patients.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Age is a
risk factor to determine the
prognosis of
patients with HCC.
Aged patients who have good
liver functional reserve are still encouraged to receive curative
therapy.</p>