Preoperative predictors of short-term survival after hepatectomy for multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma

To investigate preoperative factors associated with poor short-term outcome after resection for multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to assess the contraindication of patients for surgery.We retrospectively analyzed 162 multinodular HCC patients with Child-Pugh A liver function who underwent surgical resection. The prognostic significance of preoperative factors was investigated by univariate analysis using the log-rank test and by multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model. Each independent risk factor was then assigned points to construct a scoring model to evaluate the indication for surgical intervention. A receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was constructed to assess the predictive ability of this system.The median overall survival was 38.3 mo (range: 3-80 mo), while the median disease-free survival was 18.6 mo (range: 1-79 mo). The 1-year mortality was 14%. Independent prognostic risk factors of 1-year death included prealbumin170 mg/L [hazard ratio (HR): 5.531, P0.001], alkaline phosphatase129 U/L (HR: 3.252, P = 0.005), α fetoprotein20 μg/L (HR: 7.477, P = 0.011), total tumor size8 cm (HR: 10.543; P0.001), platelet count100 × 10⁹/L (HR: 9.937, P0.001), and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase64 U/L (HR: 3.791, P0.001). The scoring model had a strong ability to predict 1-year survival (area under ROC: 0.925, P0.001). Patients with a score ≥ 5 had significantly poorer short-term outcome than those with a score5 (1-year mortality: 62% vs 5%, P0.001; 1-year recurrence rate: 86% vs 33%, P0.001). Patients with score ≥ 5 had greater possibility of microvascular invasion (P0.001), poor tumor differentiation (P = 0.003), liver cirrhosis with small nodules (P0.001), and intraoperative blood transfusion (P = 0.010).A composite preoperative scoring model can be used as an indication of prognosis of HCC patients after surgical resection. Resection should be considered with caution in patients with a score ≥ 5, which indicates a contraindication for surgery.