Results of surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Objective: To perform a retrospective review of 14 patientssubmitted to surgical treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma atthe Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo – UNIFESP. Methods:Review of data obtained from 14 patients with hepatocellularcarcinoma submitted to surgical resection in the Discipline ofSurgical Gastroenterology, at the Universidade Federal de SaoPaulo - Escola Paulista de Medicina, from June 1992 to September1998. Results: Three patients (21.4%) were female and 11 (78.6%)were male. Ten patients (71.4%) had disease-related symptoms;76.8% were classified as Child-Pugh A. Alpha-fetoprotein levelswere analyzed in 13 patients and were elevated in 65.1%. Allpatients had abdominal ultrasound and computerized tomographyscans compatible with hepatocellular carcinoma. Surgicalresections varied from segmetectomy to trisegmentectomy.Bleeding was the most common intraoperative complication andcaused one death. The most frequent postoperative complicationwas ascitis, followed by pleural effusion, encephalopathy and biliaryfistula. Tumor recurrence rate was 61.5% at one year and wasrelated to tumors larger than 5 cm, tumor invasion and absence ofa capsule, suggesting late diagnosis. Mean disease-free survivalrate was 17 months and mean survival rate was 21 months.Conclusion: The patients with hepatocellular carcinoma submittedto surgical resection had a high recurrence rate in a one-yearfollow-up, probably due to large tumor size, vascular invasion andabsence of a capsule. The importance of an early diagnosis isemphasized