Is Age An Independent Prognostic Factor For Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Surgical Resection?

Abstract Purpose: To determine the optimal cutoff for age in predicting prognosis of HCC after surgical resection, and explore its impact on prognosis.Methods: From 1st January 2012 to 31st December 2015, medical records of patients with HCC and received radical resection were retrospectively reviewed. X-tile was utilized to determine the best cutoff. The primary endpoints were Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Cox regression analysis was used to discern independent prognostic factors.Results: 353 patients were enrolled, including 126 in young group (YG; age≤46) and 227 in elder group (EG; age>46), respectively. The YG got a significantly higher proportion of hepatitis B virus infection (p=0.029) and microvascular invasion (p=0.016). The 5-year DFS of YG was lower (38.1% vs. 47.6%，p= 0.046), while 5-year OS showed no significant difference (64.3% vs. 63.5%, p=0.58). Multivariate analysis showed that liver cirrhosis (HR=1.6, p=0.002) and microvascular invasion (HR=1.6, p=0.002) were the independent factors for DFS; microvascular invasion (HR=2.0, p<0.0001) and the tumor site (HR=1.6, p= 0.037) were the independent factors for OS. Age was neither an independent prognostic factor for DFS nor for OS [DFS: HR = 1.3 (0.9-1.7), p = 0.126; OS: HR = 1.1 (0.7-1.5), p = 0.734].