Survival after diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma and potential impact of treatment in a hepatitis B or C infected cohort

Aim: Little is known about the patterns of care and theimpact of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment on healthoutcomes at a population level. We conducted a populationbasedcohort study to examine HCC survival trends amongpeople diagnosed with hepatitis B (HBV) or hepatitis C virus(HCV) infection, to determine predictors of receiving potentiallycurative therapy for HCC, and to examine the impact ofHCC treatment on survival in New South Wales, Australia.Methods: The Kaplan–Meier method was used to estimatesurvival, logistic regression to determine predictors of potentiallycurative therapy and Cox proportional hazards modelsto determine the impact of HCC treatment on survival. Yearsof potential life lost (YPLL) were calculated.Results: During the period 1993–2007, 1081 cases of HCCwere diagnosed. Median survival increased from 10.4 monthsduring 1993–1997 to 18.4 months during 1998–2002, with nofurther improvement thereafter. Younger age at diagnosis