title: Posthepatectomy hepatitis shortens tumor-free intervals in hepatitis C virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
abstract: In hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) is frequently sustained on a high level after hepatectomy, with the formation of recurrent HCC tumors during follow-up periods. We investigated whether or not postoperative serum ALT level affects the interval before recurrence in hepatitis C virus-associated HCC. The subjects studied were 50 hepatectomized HCC patients who were HCV-Ab(+), and underwent a curable surgery in our Hospital from June 1990 to December 1999. We assessed the significance of the postoperative serum ALT level affecting tumor-free survival rates, as compared with other clinicopathological parameters, using univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis. Thereafter, tumor-free and overall survival rates after hepatectomy were compared between high and low ALT groups, using Kaplan-Meier plotting and a log-rank test. The factor of ALT levels (a high or low ALT group) was most strongly associated with a tumor-free survival rate. Both tumor-free and overall survival rates were significantly poorer in the high ALT group than in the low ALT group among HCV-associated HCC cases (p<0.05). The results in this study suggest that postoperative hepatitis, which is indicated by sustained high ALT levels, may shorten the interval before recurrence in HCV-associated HCC. We should take care to control postoperative hepatitis to improve the prognoses of HCV-associated HCC cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Academic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chuoh-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. kobayasi@med.m.chiba-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Takehide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: Takenori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ochiai
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000410:Alanine Transaminase