title: Occurrence of portal vein tumor thrombus in hepatocellular carcinoma affects prognosis and survival. A retrospective clinical study of 150 cases.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. Despite improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, prognosis and survival are still poor. To identify factors influencing survival, we retrospectively examined 150 consecutive patients with HCC from the time of first diagnosis of cirrhosis to death. In a multivariate analysis, we found that patients with larger HCC lesions had shorter survival, while other pathologic features had no predictive value. The most important and reliable prognostic factor was the occurrence of tumor thrombus of the portal vein (P<0.01). Child's stage of underlying liver disease was relevant only in the univariate, but not in the multivariate analysis. The survival of patients with HCC is mainly affected by the biological ability of cancer cells to invade surrounding tissue and vessels. More studies are needed to elucidate the mechanisms that modulate tumor cell motility, in order to design more effective therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Immunology and Infectious Disease, Section of Internal Medicine, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy
authors.forename: Gianluigi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Giannelli
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pierri
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trerotoli
authors.forename: Felice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Marinosci
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Serio
authors.forename: Oronzo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schiraldi
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Antonaci