title: Multimodality treatment in advanced primary liver cancer.
abstract: This paper reports the long-term results of multimodality treatment in 1639 patients with pathologically proven primary liver cancer (PLC) over the past three decades. In this series, patients in subclinical stage constituted 23.9% (391/1639), moderate stage 63.0% (1032/1639), and late stage 13.2% (216/1639). There were 381 patients (23.2%) with small PLC (< = 5 cm). The PLC was coexistent with liver cirrhosis in 86.4% (1416/1639). The 5-year survival after resection of PLC was 45.5% for the whole series (n = 896), and 62.7% for patients with a tumor < = 5 cm (n = 345). The 5-year survival after hepatic artery ligation (HAL) and hepatic artery infusion (HAI) (n = 124) was 18.1%, while the 5-year survival after palliative resection (n = 175) was 12.5%. The 5-year survival of 40 patients receiving second-look resection after cytoreduction therapy was 68.4%. Cryosurgery was performed on 107 PLC patients, the 5-year survival being 22.0% for the whole series, and 48.8% for the 32 patients with small PLC. The 5-year recurrence rate after resection was 55.3%. The 5-year survival after reoperation for recurring tumor (n = 90) was 40.8%. It is suggested that surgery remains the modality of choice, and it plays a more important role in the treatment of PLC. The results of palliative surgery (HAL + HAI) seem better than those of palliative resection; combined multimodality treatment and second-look resection, and new surgical techniques might offer hope for unresectable advanced PLC.
authors.affiliation: Liver Cancer Institute, Shanghai Medical University, China.
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Z Y
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Z C
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D010166:Palliative Care; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012086:Reoperation; D015996:Survival Rate