Surgical management of synchronous hepatocellular carcinoma and gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The improvement of diagnostic modalities and operative techniques has resulted in prolonged survival for cancer patients, but has also led to the diagnosis of an increasing number of patients with synchronous hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and extrahepatic primary cancer. It is necessary to determine the optimal surgical strategies for synchronous HCC and gastric cancer.


METHODS
In this retrospective study, clinicopathologic findings, diagnostic methods, treatment and outcome were reviewed in 13 patients who underwent curative surgery for synchronous HCC and gastric cancer.


RESULTS
Twelve of the 13 patients were men older than 60 years. All patients had chronic hepatic disease, and hepatitis viral infection was detected in 9 patients. Examinations of the esophagus to search for esophageal varices before liver resection for HCC, and imaging studies to rule out liver metastasis before gastrectomy for gastric cancer can lead to the incidental finding of a synchronous carcinoma. The most frequent postoperative complication was massive ascites, which occurred in 4 patients who underwent lymph node dissection, 1 of whom died of perioperative hepatic failure. HCC recurred in 7 patients, 4 of whom died of their disease; only 1 patient died of recurrence of gastric cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Careful follow-up for recurrence of HCC is necessary because the most common cause of death in patients with synchronous carcinoma is recurrence of HCC.
Uenishi
T
T
Department of Gastroenterological and Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Kubo
S
S
Hirohashi
K
K
Osugi
H
H
Shuto
T
T
Tanaka
H
H
Yamamoto
T
T
Ogawa
M
M
Kinoshita
H
H
D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005743:Gastrectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome