Journal Article

Survival of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Cabibbo, Giuseppe, Genova, Claudio, Cammà, Calogero, Genco, Chiara, Di Marco, Vito, Attardo, Simona, Peralta, Marco, Galia, Massimo, Brancatelli, Giuseppe, Raineri, Maurizio, Maida, Marcello, Butera, Giuseppe, Orlando, Emanuele, Craxì, Antonio, Midiri, Massimo, Alessi, Nicola, Giarratano, Antonino

2013

Overview

Radio-frequency ablation (RFA) has been employed in the treatment of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) early stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as curative treatments. To assess the effectiveness and the safety of RFA in patients with early HCC and compensated cirrhosis. A cohort of 151 consecutive patients with early stage HCC (122 Child-Pugh class A and 29 class B patients) treated with RFA were enrolled. Clinical, laboratory and radiological follow-up data were collected from the time of first RFA. The overall survival rates were 94%, 80%, 64%, 49%, and 41% at 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months, respectively. Complete response (CR) at 1 month (p<0.0001) and serum albumin levels (p = 0.0004) were the only variables indipendently linked to survival by multivariate Cox model. By multivariate analysis, tumor size (p = 0.01) is the only variable associated with an increased likehood of CR. RFA is safe and effective for managing HCC with cirrhosis, especially for patients with HCC [less than or equal to]3 cm and higher baseline albumin levels. Complete response after RFA significantly increases survival.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science