title: Anatomic versus nonanatomic hepatectomy for a solitary hepatocellular carcinoma : a case-controlled study with propensity score matching.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It remains controversial whether anatomical resection (AR) improves the prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or not. To our knowledge, there have been a few well-matched studies about this issue. The aim of the present study was to compare the recurrence-free survival of AR versus nonanatomical resection (NAR) for a solitary HCC using propensity score matching.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study included 236 patients who had a solitary HCC without macroscopic vessel thrombosis. Those patients were divided into AR (n = 139) and NAR (n = 97) groups. A propensity score matching was performed to minimize the effect of potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-four patients from each group were matched. Preoperative confounding factors were balanced between the two groups. The median recurrence-free survival times in the AR and NAR groups were 33.8 and 30.8 months, respectively (P = 0.520). There were no significant differences in the intrahepatic recurrence pattern (P = 0.097). Operative procedure was not a significant risk factor for recurrence in both uni- and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This case-matching study using a propensity score shows that there is no superiority of AR to NAR relevant to the recurrence-free survival in patients with a single HCC.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Shizuoka Cancer Center Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan, yu.okamura@scchr.jp.
authors.forename: Yukiyasu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Teiichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiura
authors.forename: Keita
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Katsuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Uesaka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D057216:Propensity Score; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome