title: A multicenter retrospective study on clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcome in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a paucity of information on the clinical presentation and outcome of elderly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. We performed a multicenter retrospective comparative study to assess the impact of age on potential differences in clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, and outcome in HCC patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed HCC patients treated at two U.S. tertiary institutions from 1998 to 2008. Demographics, tumor parameters, etiology and severity of cirrhosis, treatment, and survival from diagnosis were collected and analyzed. After exclusion of transplanted patients, survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred thirty-five HCC patients were divided into two groups: "elderly" (95 patients, age ≥ 70 years) and "younger" (240 patients, aged <70 years). The male/female (M/F) ratio was 5.8:1 and 1.7:1 in the younger and elderly groups, respectively (p < .0001). Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rate was 48.3% in younger and 21.1% in elderly patients (p < .0001); Child class B and C cirrhosis accounted for 35.8% in younger and 25.3% in elderly patients (p = .063). Compared with younger patients, the elderly received transplant less frequently (19.6% versus 5.3%, p = .0002) and were more likely to receive supportive care only (22.9% versus 36.8%, p = .01). No significant differences between the two age groups were seen in tumor parameters or other treatments received. Overall (p = .47) and HCC-specific survival rates (p = .38) were similar in both age groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Characteristics that distinguish elderly from younger HCC patients include lower M/F ratio, worse performance status, lower rate of HCV infection, and less advanced underlying cirrhosis. Elderly patients were less likely to have a liver transplant and more likely to receive supportive care only. However, overall and HCC-specific survival were similar between the two groups.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Olga N
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Kozyreva
authors.forename: Dorcas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Hejing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Kathy P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Theall
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Andrew X
authors.initials: AX
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome