[Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: a report of 8 patients].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the feasibility of liver transplantation as a treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).


METHODS
From July 1995 to October 1998, eight liver cancer patients with cirrhosis underwent liver transplantation in Queen Mary Hospital. The liver grafts were obtained from 6 brainstem dead donors and 2 living donors. Five patients had known HCC and 3 had incidental tumor identified in the explanted liver. TNM staging: stage II (5 cases), stage III (2 cases) and stage IV a (1 case). After liver transplantation, the patients were followed up prospectively for a median of 36 months. Except for one patient who had preoperative chemotherapy, no anticancer treatment was given before and after transplantation.


RESULTS
Three patients had acute rejection, 5 developed complication in early post transplantation. All were treated promptly and improved. One patient died one year after operation from septicemia. The recurrence-free survival rates of one and three years were 100% and 83.3%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Liver transplantation is a feasible method for treatment of HCC in selected patients. Living donor liver transplantation can overcome the problems of donor shortage and tumor growth while waiting for liver transplantation.
Zhang
Z
Z
Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Fan
S
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome