title: Liver transplantation outcomes in patients with cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma: experience of a single center in a viral hepatitis endemic area.
abstract: Our center has performed 205 orthotopic liver transplantations (OLT) in 201 patients. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was discovered in 32 (15%) patients, 5 of whom were diagnosed incidentally in recipient explants. The main underlying diagnosis was viral hepatitis (n = 28; 87.5%). Most patients (17; 53.1%) were diagnosed as having Child class B cirrhosis. Single tumors measuring <3 cm were diagnosed in 29 (90.6%) patients. Downstaging chemoembolization was performed in 7 (21.8%) patients. Preoperative aFP levels were normal in 20 (62.5%) patients. In the rest (n = 12; 37.5%), aFP levels normalized immediately after the OLT. In the latter group, 2 patients had a delayed (2 years) postoperative increase in aFP levels; both patients had tumor recurrence in the graft. All patients with hepatitis B received antiviral treatment with HBIG and lamivudine. There were 9 deaths (28.1%) in the immediate postoperative period (<30 days). One-year survival rate was 62.5% (n = 20). Actuarial 5-year survival rate was 55%, and actuarial 10-year survival rate was 40%. In conclusion, OLT has become the standard treatment for patients diagnosed with HCC in a population that shows cirrhosis most of the time to be secondary to viral hepatitis, provided that recipients are selected according to the size of the neoplasm and that they receive adequate antiviral prophylaxis.
authors.affiliation: Organ Transplant Unit, Hippokration General Hospital, 49 Konstantinoupoleos Avenue, Thessaloniki 54642, Hellas.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Imvrios
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Papanikolaou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vrochides
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ouzounidis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papagiannis
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fouzas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giakoustidis
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Antoniades
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iosifidou
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patsiaoura
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zafiriadou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Takoudas
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery* / Q000821:virology; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000601:surgery* / Q000821:virology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery* / Q000821:virology; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000502:physiology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome