Hepatic resection for primary liver malignancy.

The results of hepatic resection for patients with primary liver malignancy seen at our clinic during the past 21 years are reported. Of 92 patients, 57 had cirrhosis in addition to hepatocellular carcinoma, and 49 (53 percent) underwent hepatic resection of various degrees from partial resection to trisegmentectomy. Resectability rates of the liver were 52 percent in 77 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, including 19 in whom the tumor was less than 5 cm in diameter, and 60 percent in 15 patients with other malignant tumors; operative mortality rates were 15 percent in the former and 0 percent in the latter. Cumulative survival rates of all patients who underwent hepatic resection, excluding death within one month, were 55 percent at one year, 29 at 3 and 5 years. In patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, survival rates of 15 those who had a curative resection of the tumor were 87 percent at one year and 47 percent at 3 or 5 years, there was a significant difference in survival curves between those with tumors less than 5 cm and more than 5 cm (p less than 0.05). On the other hand, survival rates of all patients with other malignant tumors were 78 percent at one year and 37 percent at 5 years. These results indicate the importance of performing hepatic resection for patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma associated with cirrhosis and those with other malignant tumors.