Is It Rational to Perform Liver Resection for Patients with Intermediate and Advanced Stages of Hepatocellular Carcinoma?

This study aimed to investigate clinical characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma and the outcome of our aggressive treatment policy which follows the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) guidance. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed data of 102 patients who were treated for hepatocellular carcinoma between January 2007 and October 2016. Male predominance (81.4%) and a median age of 61 years were observed. Cirrhosis was evident in 88.2 per cent of patients. Viral hepatitis (77.5%) was the most common underlying etiology. The majority of our patients (71.6%) were in BCLC B and C stages. Liver resection was performed in 53.4 per cent of patients in those stages. Transarterial chemoembolization was the leading interventional treatment. Overall survival rates at three and five years were 75 per cent and 75 per cent in BCLC 0, 69 per cent and 58 per cent in BCLC A, 50 per cent and 41 per cent in BCLC B, and 11 per cent and 11 per cent in BCLC C, respectively. The BCLC treatment algorithm should consider the role of liver resection also for intermediate stages.