THE STATE OF RECURRENCE AND THE ROLE OF HEPATECTOMY IN HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA

The subjects involved in the present study were 113 patients with hepa tocellular carcinomas who had undergone hepatectomy in our hospital du ring the past 10 years. During the surveillance, 79 of the 113 patient s (69.9 %) had recurrence in the residual liver. The cumulative non-re currence rate at 2 and 5 years was 48.4 % and 18.1 %, respectively and the cumulative survival rate at 2 and 5 years was 83.8 % and 47.5 %, respectively. The recurrence in the residual liver tended to occur in the group with the larger tumor size, in the single nodular surroundin g proliferative types and in the aneuploid types. There were no differ ences in the recurrence rate and state relating to the operative proce dure. To improve the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma, it is nece ssary to consider the hepatic functional reserve after hepatectomy, an d to make plans for multidisciplinary therapy, including such further treatment as transcatheter arterial embolization, infusion chemotherap y and preoperative percutaneous ethanol injection.