Search

The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center nomogram, the predictive scoring system of Yamamoto et al, and the 3-point transfusion risk score of Lemke et al are models used to determine the probability of receiving intraoperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing liver resection. However, the external validity of these models remains unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate their predictive performance in an external cohort of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We also aimed to identify predictors of blood transfusion and develop a new predictive model for blood transfusion.Post hoc analysis of our prospective database of 1,081 patients undergoing liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma from 2001 to 2018. The predictive performance of current prediction models was evaluated using C statistics. Demographic and clinical variables as predictors of blood transfusion were assessed. Using logistic regression, an alternative model was created.The Lemke transfusion risk score performed better than the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center nomogram (0.69, 95% confidence interval 0.66-0.73 vs 0.66, 95% liver resection 0.62-0.69) (Plt; .001). The model from Yamamoto et al performed comparably with no statistically significant differences found through pairwise comparison. In our alternative model, hemoglobin level, albumin level, liver resection type, and tumor size were independent predictors of blood transfusion. The new HATS model obtained a C statistic of 0.74 (95% confidence interval 0.71-0.78), performing significantly better than the previous 3 models (P ≤ 0.001 for all).The existing Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Yamamoto et al, and Lemke et al had nomograms with the suboptimal accuracy of predicting risk of intraoperative blood transfusion in patients undergoing liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma. The proposed HATS model was more accurate at predicting patients at risk of blood transfusion.

While minimally invasive liver resections (MILR) have demonstrated advantages in improved post-operative recovery, widespread adoption is hampered by inherent technical difficulties. Our study attempts to analyze the role of anthropometric measures in MILR-related outcomes.Between 2012 and 2020, 676 consecutive patients underwent MILR at the Singapore General Hospital of which 565 met study criteria and were included. Patients were stratified based on Body Mass Index (BMI) as well as Standardized Liver Volumes (SLV). Associations between BMI and SLV to selected peri-operative outcomes were analyzed using restricted cubic splines.A BMI of ≥ 29 was associated with increase in blood loss [Mean difference (MD) 69 mls, 95% CI 2 to 137] as well as operative conversions [Relative Risk (RR) 1.63, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.62] among patients undergoing MILR while a SLV of 1600 cc or higher was associated with an increase in blood loss (MD 30 mls, 95% CI 10 to 49). In addition, a BMI of ≤ 20 was associated with an increased risk of major complications (RR 2.25, 95% 1.16 to 4.35). The magnitude of differences observed in these findings increased with each unit change in BMI and SLV.Both BMI and SLV were useful anthropometric measures in predicting peri-operative outcomes in MILR and may be considered for incorporation in future difficulty scoring systems for MILR.

A systematic review and network meta-analysis was performed to compare outcomes after living donor right hepatectomy via the following techniques: conventional open (Open), mini-laparotomy (Minilap), hybrid (Hybrid), totally laparoscopic (Lap), and robotic living donor right hepatectomy (Robotic).PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Scopus were searched from inception to August 2021 for comparative studies of patients who underwent living donor right hepatectomy.Nineteen studies comprising 2,261 patients were included. Operation time was longer in Lap versus Minilap and Open (mean difference 65.09 min, 95% confidence interval 3.40-126.78 and mean difference 34.81 minutes, 95% confidence interval 1.84-67.78), and in Robotic versus Hybrid, Lap, Minilap, and Open (mean difference 144.72 minutes, 95% confidence interval 89.84-199.59, mean difference 113.24 minutes, 95% confidence interval 53.28-173.20, mean difference 178.33 minutes, 95% confidence interval 105.58-251.08 and mean difference 148.05 minutes, 95% confidence interval 97.35-198.74, respectively). Minilap and Open were associated with higher blood loss compared to Lap (mean difference 258.67 mL, 95% confidence interval 107.00-410.33 and mean difference 314.11 mL, 95% confidence interval 143.84-484.37) and Robotic (mean difference 205.60 mL, 95% confidence interval 45.92-365.28 and mean difference 261.04 mL, 95% confidence interval 84.26-437.82). Open was associated with more overall complications compared to Minilap (odds ratio 2.60, 95% confidence interval 1.11-6.08). Recipient biliary complication rate was higher in Minilap and Open versus Hybrid (odds ratio 3.91, 95% confidence interval 1.13-13.55 and odds ratio 11.42, 95% confidence interval 2.27-57.49), and lower in Open versus Minilap (OR 0.07, 95% confidence interval 0.01-0.34).Minimally invasive donor right hepatectomy via the various techniques is safe and feasible when performed in high-volume centers, with no major differences in donor complication rates and comparable recipient outcomes once surgeons have mounted the learning curve.

Distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCC) is still associated with a poor overall survival (OS). This study aims to investigate the impact of novel prognostic scores in comparison with more traditional ones.Multicentric retrospective analysis of patients who underwent a pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) for dCC. An unadjusted analysis was used to identify predictors of decreased survival. Significant variables were introduced in a multivariable model that assessed OS, recurrence-free survival (RFS), early recurrence (defined as a recurrence within the first 12 months from the PD), local and distant recurrence. Prognostic scores evaluated included the TNM staging system, the lymph-node ratio (LNR), the platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the systemic inflammation index (SII).The study included 232 patients with resected dCC. The optimal cut-off value for LNR was 15% (LNR15). On the unadjusted analysis T stage (p = 0.012), N stage (p0.001), LNR15 (p0.001), grade (p0.001), perineural invasion (p0.001) and the R1 status of resection margin (p = 0.001) accounted for the decreased OS. No significant association between survival and PLR, NLR and SII were found. On the multivariable analysis only LNR15, perineural invasion and R1 were independent predictors of decreased RFS (p = 0.003, p = 0.021 and p = 0.009, respectively) and OS (p = 0.001, p = 0.016 and p = 0.013, respectively). Additionally, LNR15 was an independent predictor of early recurrence (p = 0.003) and both LNR15 and R1 were associated with increased local (p0.001 and p = 0.010) and distant recurrence (p0.001 and p = 0.003).LNR15 is an independent predictor of DFS, OS, early, local and distal recurrence, combined with the status of the resection margin and perineural invasion.

BACKGROUND: Data on the management of elderly patients with extensive colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) are scarce and conflicting. This study assesses differences in management and long-term oncological outcomes between older and younger patients with CRLM and a high Tumour Burden Score (TBS).; METHODS: International multicentre retrospective study on patients with CRLM and a category 3 TBS, submitted to liver resection. Patients were divided into two groups according to their age (younger and older than 75) and were compared using propensity score matching (PSM) analysis and multivariable regression models. Differences in management and oncological outcomes including recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed.; RESULTS: The study included 386 patients, median follow-up was 48 months. The unmatched comparison revealed a higher ASA score (p=0.035), less synchronous CRLM (47% vs 68%, p=0.003), a lower median number of lesions (1 vs 3, p=0.004) and less perioperative chemotherapy (CTx) (66% vs 88%, p

The majority of evidence with regards to minimally invasive liver resection (MILR) favors its application in minor hepatectomies. We conducted a propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis to determine its feasibility and safety in major hepatectomies (MIMH) for liver malignancies.Retrospective review of 130 patients who underwent MIMH and 490 patients who underwent open major hepatectomy (OMH) for malignant pathologies was performed. PSM in a 1:1 ratio identified two groups of patients with similar baseline clinicopathological characteristics. Perioperative outcomes were then compared. Major hepatectomies included traditional major (3 segments) and technical major hepatectomies (right anterior and right posterior sectionectomies).Both cohorts were well-matched for baseline characteristics after PSM. Of 130 MIMH cases, there were 12 conversions to open. Comparison of perioperative outcomes demonstrated a significant association of MIMH with longer operation time and more frequent application of Pringle's maneuver (PM), but decreased postoperative stay. These results were consistent on a subgroup analysis that only included patients undergoing traditional major hepatectomies. A second subgroup analysis restricted to cirrhotic patients demonstrated that while perioperative outcomes were equivalent, MIMH was similarly associated with a longer operative time. Subset analyses of resections performed after 2015 demonstrated that MIMH was additionally associated with a lower postoperative morbidity compared to OMH.Comparison of perioperative and short-term oncological outcomes between MIMH and OMH for malignancies demonstrated that MIMH is feasible and safe. It is associated with a shorter hospital stay at the expense of a longer operation time compared to OMH.

Introduction We performed this study in order to investigate the impact of tumour size on the difficulty of MILR, as well as to elucidate the optimal tumour size cut-off/s to distinguish between ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ MILRs. Materials and methods This is retrospective review of 603 consecutive patients who underwent MILR between 2006 and 2019 of which 461 met the study inclusion criteria. We first conducted an exploratory analysis to visualize the associations between tumor size and various surrogates of laparoscopic difficulty in order to determine to optimal tumor size cutoff for stratification. Visual inspection of flexible spline-based models as well as quantitative evidence determined that perioperative outcomes differed between patients with tumor size of 30–69 mm and tumours ≥70 mm. These cutoffs were used for further downstream analyses. Results The cohort of 461 patients was divided into 3 groups based on tumour diameter size. Patients with larger tumours experienced longer operating times ((PGroup 2 vs 1 Conclusion Although tumour size of 30 mm serves as an optimal cut-off for predicting difficult resections as per the Iwate criteria, a trichotomy (

Background Whether the safety and efficacy of hepatic resection differ between patients whose hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or has other aetiologies is unknown. A systematic review was performed to explore potential differences between such conditions. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched for relevant studies that reported hazard ratios (HRs) for overall and recurrence-free survival between patients with NAFLD-related HCC or HCC of other aetiologies. Results The meta-analysis involved 17 retrospective studies involving 2470 patients (21.5 per cent) with NAFLD-related HCC and 9007 (78.5 per cent) with HCC of other aetiologies. Patients with NAFLD-related HCC were older and had higher body mass index (BMI), but were less likely to have cirrhosis (50.4 per cent versus 64.0 per cent, P < 0.001). The two groups suffered similar rates of perioperative complications and mortality. Patients with NAFLD-related HCC had slightly higher overall survival (HR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.75 to 1.02) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.93, 95 per cent c.i. 0.84 to 1.02) than those with HCC of other aetiologies. In the various subgroup analyses, the only significant finding was that Asian patients with NAFLD-related HCC had significantly better overall survival (HR 0.82, 95 per cent c.i. 0.71 to 0.95) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.88, 95 per cent c.i. 0.79 to 0.98) than Asian patients with HCC of other aetiologies. Conclusion The available evidence suggests that patients with NAFLD-related HCC have similar perioperative complications and mortality, but potentially longer overall and recurrence-free survival, compared with those with HCC of other aetiologies. Tailored surveillance strategies should be developed for patients with NAFLD without cirrhosis.

Background There is still uncertainty regarding the role of perioperative chemotherapy (CTx) in patients with resectable colorectal liver metastases (CRLM), especially in those with a low-risk of recurrence. Methods Multicentre retrospective analysis of patients with CRLM undergoing liver resection between 2010–2015. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether they received perioperative CTx or not and were compared using propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. Then, they were stratified according to prognostic risk scores, including: Clinical Risk Score (CRS), Tumour Burden Score (TBS) and Genetic And Morphological Evaluation (GAME) score. Results The study included 967 patients with a median follow-up of 68 months. After PSM analysis, patients with perioperative CTx presented prolonged overall survival (OS) in comparison with the surgery alone group (82.8 vs 52.5 months, p = 0.017). On multivariable analysis perioperative CTx was an independent predictor of increased OS (HR 0.705, 95%CI 0.705–0.516, p = 0.029). The benefits of perioperative CTx on survival were confirmed in patients with CRS and TBS scores ≤2 (p = 0.022 and p = 0.020, respectively) and in patients with a GAME score ≤1 (p = 0.006). Conclusion Perioperative CTx demonstrated an increase in OS in patients with CRLM. Patients with a low-risk of recurrence seem to benefit from systemic treatment.

Background Surgical site infection (SSI) rates post pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) range from 20 to 40%. Biliary obstruction (± stent in situ) leads to colonization of the biliary tract with gut flora, and bile contamination during surgery increases SSI risk. Current guidelines recommend surgical prophylaxis (ppx) with 1st or 2nd generation cephalosporins. However, emerging data favor targeted ppx based on biliary cultures to reduce SSI. We reviewed the microbial profile of pathogens isolated from perioperative biliary stent and bile cultures, and evaluated the impact of ppx on culture positive SSIs within 30 days of PD. Methods This was a retrospective study conducted in Singapore General Hospital. Patients who had PD from 1/1/2013 to 31/12/2019 were included. The first positive cultures from perioperative biliary stent, bile, and SSI cultures obtained within 30 days of surgery were reviewed. Antibiotic use 30 days prior and during surgery was collected. Results A total of 341 patients with a mean age of 63.9 ± 11.3 years were included; 202 (59.2%) were male and 137 (40.2%) received antibiotics in the past 30 days. For surgical ppx, patients received either cephalosporins ± metronidazole (216 [63.3%] ceftriaxone, 25 [7.3%] cefazolin), piperacillin-tazobactam (TZP) (35 [10.3%)], ciprofloxacin ± metronidazole (16 [4.7%)] or other antibiotics (14 [4.1%]), while 35 had missing data. Of the positive cultures from 84 biliary stent, 86 bile and 79 SSI, the most common organisms isolated were Enteroccocus spp., E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Enterobacter spp. and Candida spp. Ceftriaxone susceptibility rates in E. coli were 50.0%, 54.8% and 22.2% in biliary stent, bile and SSI cultures respectively; similarly low rates were also seen in Klebsiella spp. (Tables 1-3). Antibiotic use 30-days prior was associated with higher ceftriaxone resistance rates in E. coli and Klebsiella spp. from bile cultures (70.8% vs 36.4%, p=0.019). In patients with biliary stents cultured, use of TZP ppx showed a trend towards lower rates of culture positive SSIs compared to non-TZP ppx (9.1% vs 29.4%, p=0.054). Conclusion Our local gram-negative bacteria susceptibility rates to ceftriaxone are low in biliary stent, bile fluid cultures, and even lower for SSI post PD. Antibiotic ppx for PD in high-risk patients may need to be broadened. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures.

Minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy (MIDP) is being adopted increasingly worldwide. This study aimed to compare the short-term outcomes of patients who underwent MIDP versus open distal pancreatectomy (ODP). A retrospective review of all patients who underwent a DP in our institution between 2005 and 2019 was performed. Propensity score matching based on relevant baseline factors was used to match patients in the ODP and MIDP groups in a 1:1 manner. Outcomes reported include operative duration, blood loss, postoperative length of stay, morbidity, mortality, postoperative pancreatic fistula rates, reoperation and readmission. In total, 444 patients were included in this study. Of 122 MIDP patients, 112 (91.8%) could be matched. After matching, the median operating time for MIDP was significantly longer than ODP [260 min (200–346.3) vs 180 (135–232.5), p

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected half a billion people, including vulnerable populations such as cancer patients. While increasing evidence supports the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 months after a negative nasopharyngeal swab test, the effects on long-term immune memory and cancer treatment are unclear. In this report, we examined post-COVID-19 tissue-localized immune responses in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patient and a colorectal cancer (CRC) patient. Using spatial whole-transcriptomic analysis, we demonstrated spatial profiles consistent with a lymphocyte-associated SARS-CoV-2 response (based on two public COVID-19 gene sets) in the tumors and adjacent normal tissues, despite intra-tumor heterogeneity. The use of RNAscope and multiplex immunohistochemistry revealed that the spatial localization of B cells was significantly associated with lymphocyte-associated SARS-CoV-2 responses within the spatial transcriptomic (ST) niches showing the highest levels of virus. Furthermore, single-cell RNA sequencing data obtained from previous (CRC) or new (HCC) ex vivo stimulation experiments showed that patient-specific SARS-CoV-2 memory B cells were the main contributors to this positive association. Finally, we evaluated the spatial associations between SARS-CoV-2-induced immunological effects and immunotherapy-related anti-tumor immune responses. Immuno-predictive scores (IMPRES) revealed consistent positive spatial correlations between T cells/cytotoxic lymphocytes and the predicted immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) response, particularly in the HCC tissues. However, the positive spatial correlation between B cells and IMPRES score was restricted to the high-virus ST niche. In addition, tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) analysis revealed marked T cell dysfunction and inflammation, alongside low T cell exclusion and M2 tumor-associated macrophage infiltration. Our results provide in situ evidence of SARS-CoV-2-generated persistent immunological memory, which could not only provide tissue protection against reinfection but may also modulate the tumor microenvironment, favoring ICB responsiveness. As the number of cancer patients with COVID-19 comorbidity continues to rise, improved understanding of the long-term immune response induced by SARS-CoV-2 and its impact on cancer treatment is much needed.

We read with great interest the article published by Zuo et al , which highlighted the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stool samples during active and convalescence phases of COVID-19 infection.1 However, no study has reported the presence of viral antigens within GI and hepatic organs during the convalescent phase. Using conventional immunohistochemistry, we detected SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP) in the colon, appendix, ileum, haemorrhoid, liver, gallbladder and lymph nodes (figure 1A–K) from five patients who recovered from COVID-19, ranging from 9 to 180 days after testing negative for SARS-CoV-2 (online supplemental table 1). Notably, when multiple tissues were obtained from one patient (patients 1 and 4), all the tissues showed the presence of the viral antigen, suggesting widespread multiorgan involvement of the viral infection. Interestingly, for the colon, the viral antigen was only present in normal colonic crypts and polyps but not in the neoplastic tissues (figure 1Q). Similar negative staining in the hepatocellular carcinoma tumour region was also observed (figure 1R) albeit the positive staining in some of the scattered immune cells (figure 1D). Validating our findings, we detected SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (figure 1L–P) and RNA (figure 2B–F) in the above-mentioned tissues using conventional immunohistochemistry and RNAscope, respectively. However, we were unable to detect viral RNA in some patients’ tissues (online supplemental table 1), possibly because of higher RNA degradation rate as compared with protein and other patient-dependent factors such as disease severity, time since recovery and basal metabolic rate.### Supplementary data [gutjnl-2021-324280supp001.pdf] Figure 1 Immunohistochemical staining of the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike proteins in intestinal and hepatic tissues. (A and B) Positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP) staining in colonic crypts (A) and appendix (B), both with a granular supranuclear cytoplasmic pattern. (C) positive SARS-CoV-2 NP staining in scattered immune cells …

BACKGROUND This study aims to compare the short- and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing minimally invasive liver resection (MILR) versus open liver resection (OLR) for nonrecurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS Review of 204 MILR and 755 OLR without previous LR performed between 2005 and 2018. 1:1 coarsened exact matching (CEM) and 1:1 propensity-score matching (PSM) were performed. RESULTS Overall, 190 MILR were well-matched with 190 OLR by PSM and 86 MILR with 86 OLR by CEM according to patient baseline characteristics. After PSM and CEM, MILR was associated with a significantly longer operation time [230 min (interquartile range [IQR], 145-330) vs. 160 min (IQR, 125-210), p

Our primary objective was to determine if receiving intraoperative blood transfusion was a significant prognostic factor for overall and recurrence-free survival after curative resection of hepatic cellular carcinoma (HCC).Between 2001 and 2018, 1092 patients with histologically proven primary HCC who underwent curative liver resection were retrospectively reviewed. Primary study endpoints were recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS). The main analysis was undertaken using propensity-score matching (PSM) to minimize confounding and selection biases in the comparison of patients with or without transfusion.There were 220 patients who received and 666 patients who did not receive intraoperative blood transfusion. The PSM cohort consisted of 163 pairs of patients. After PSM, the only perioperative outcome that appeared to significantly affect whether patients would receive blood transfusion was median blood loss (p = 0.001). In the PSM cohort, whether patients received blood transfusion was neither associated with OS (p = 0.759) nor RFS (p = 0.830). When the volume of blood transfusion was analyzed as a continuous variable, no significant dose-response relationship between blood transfusion volume and HR for OS and RFS was noted.Intraoperative blood transfusion had no significant impact on the survival outcomes in patients who receive curative resection in primary HCC.

Ian JY Wee,1 Fiona NN Moe,1 Rehena Sultana,2 Reiko WT Ang,1 Pearly PS Quek,3 Brian Kim Poh Goh,1 Chung Yip Chan,1 Peng Chung Cheow,1 Alexander YF Chung,1 Prema Raj Jeyaraj,1 Ye Xin Koh,1 Peter OP Mack,1 London Lucien PJ Ooi,1 Ek Khoon Tan,1 Jin Yao Teo,1 Juinn Huar Kam,1 Jacelyn SS Chua,1 Ashley WY Ng,1 Jade SQ Goh,1 Pierce KH Chow1,4 1Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplantation Surgery, Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; 2Center of Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore; 3Ministry of Health Holdings, Singapore, Singapore; 4Surgery Academic Clinical Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, SingaporeCorrespondence: Pierce KH Chow, Department of Hepatopancreatobiliary and Transplant Surgery, Singapore General Hospital and National Cancer Centre Singapore, 11 Hospital Drive, Singapore, 169610, Singapore, Tel +65 6576 2151, Email pierce.chow@duke-nus.edu.sgObjective: We aimed to prognosticate survival after surgical resection of HCC stratified by stage with amalgamation of the modified Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system and location of tumour.Methods: This single-institutional retrospective cohort study included patients with HCC who underwent surgical resection between 1st January 2000 to 30th June 2016. Participants were divided into 6 different subgroups: A-u) Within MC with Unilobar lesions; A-b) Within MC + Bilobar lesions; B1-u) Out of MC + within Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B1-b) Out of MC + within Up-to-7 + Bilobar lesions; B2-u) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B2-b) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Bilobar lesions. A separate survival analysis was conducted for solitary HCC lesions according to three subgroups: A-S (Within MC); B1-S (Out of MC + within Up-To-7); B2-S (Out of MC + out of Up-To-7).Results: A total of 794 of 1043 patients with surgical resection for HCC were analysed. Groups A-u (64.6%), A-b (58.4%) and B1-u (56.2%) had 5-year cumulative overall survival (OS) rates above 50% after surgical resection and median OS exceeding 60 months (P = 0.0001). The 5-year cumulative recurrence-free survival rates (RFS) were 40.4% (group A-u), 38.2% (group A-b), 36.3% (group B1-u), 24.6% (group B2-u), and 7.3% (group B2-b)(P=0.0001). For solitary lesions, the 5-year OS for the subgroups were A-S (65.1%), B1-S (56.0%) and B2-S (47.1%) (P = 0.0003). Compared to A-S, there was also a significant trend towards relatively poorer OS as the lesion sizes increased in B1-S (HR 1.46, 95% CI 1.03– 2.08) and B2-S (HR 1.65, 95% CI 1.25– 2.18).Conclusion: We adopted a novel approach combining the modified BCLC B sub-classification and dispersion of tumour to show that surgical resection in intermediate stage HCC can be robustly prognosticated. We found that size prognosticates resection outcomes in solitary tumours.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, surgical resection, Barcelona clinic liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the liver with high rates of recurrence post-resection. Repeat hepatectomy (RH) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are the mainstays for managing recurrent HCC following initial curative resection. This retrospective study aims to determine the average treatment effect of RH and RFA in patients with recurrent HCC. From 2000 to 2016, a total of 219 consecutive patients with recurrent HCC who underwent either RH or RFA were included in the study. The analysis was performed using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW), and propensity score-matched (PSM) methods. The minor and major post-operative morbidity after propensity score-matched analysis for the RH group was 30.0% and 6.0%, respectively, and 19.2% and 0.0% (p = 0.1006), respectively, for the RFA group. After propensity score matching, the median OS for RH and RFA was 85.5 (IQR, 33.5–not reached) and 53.3 months (IQR, 27.5–not reached) (p = 0.8474), respectively. There was no significant difference in 90-day mortality between both groups (p = 0.1287). RH showed improved long-term overall survival over RFA at the third [71.3% versus 65.7% (p = 0.0432)], fifth [59.9% versus 45.4% (p = 0.0271)] and tenth [35.4% versus 32.2% (p = 0.0132)] year follow-up, respectively. Median time to recurrence was 11.1 (IQR, 5.0–33.2) and 28.0 months (IQR, 9.1–not reached) (p = 0.0225) for the RFA and RH group, respectively. RH confers a late survival benefit compared with RFA for patients with recurrent HCC despite a higher morbidity rate.

Background Various difficulty scoring systems (DSS) have been formulated to grade the complexity of laparoscopic hepatectomies (LH). This study aims to externally validate and compare 4 contemporary DSS including the Iwate, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris (IMM), Southampton and Hasegawa DSS in predicting the intraoperative technical difficulty and postoperative outcomes after LH. Methods Retrospective review of 548 consecutive patients who underwent LH of which 455 met the study inclusion criteria. Outcomes measures of technical difficulty included operation time, Pringles maneuver, blood loss and blood transfusion rate. Postoperative outcomes measured included morbidity, major morbidity and postoperative hospital stay. Results There was a statistically significant progressive increase in blood loss, blood transfusion rate, operation time and postoperative stay associated with all 4 DSS. There was also good calibration with respect to blood loss, operation time, Pringles maneuver, open conversion rate, postoperative morbidity, postoperative major morbidity and postoperative stay for all 4 DSS. The Southampton score demonstrated the poorest calibration in terms of operation time and discrimination in terms of application of Pringles maneuver and major morbidity amongst all 4 systems. Conclusion All 4 DSS significantly correlated with outcome measures associated with intraoperative technical difficulty and postoperative outcomes. The Southampton DSS was the poorest system in our cohort of patients.

INTRODUCTION Fluorescence imaging (FI) with indocyanine green (ICG) is increasingly implemented as an intraoperative navigation tool in hepatobiliary surgery to identify hepatic tumours. This is useful in minimally invasive hepatectomy, where gross inspection and palpation are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety and optimal timing of using ICG for tumour localisation in patients undergoing hepatic resection. METHODS From 2015 to 2018, a prospective multicentre study was conducted to evaluate feasibility and safety of ICG in tumour localisation following preoperative administration of ICG either on Day 0–3 or Day 4–7. RESULTS Among 32 patients, a total of 46 lesions were resected: 23 were hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs), 12 were colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) and 11 were benign lesions. ICG FI identified 38 (82.6%) lesions prior to resection. The majority of HCCs were homogeneous fluorescing lesions (56.6%), while CLRM were homogeneous (41.7%) or rim-enhancing (33.3%). The majority (75.0%) of the lesions not detected by ICG FI were in cirrhotic livers. Most (84.1%) of ICG-positive lesions detected were < 1 cm deep, and half of the lesions ≥ 1 cm in depth were not detected. In cirrhotic patients with malignant lesions, those given ICG on preoperative Day 0−3 and Day 4−7 had detection rates of 66.7% and 91.7%, respectively. There were no adverse events. CONCLUSION ICG FI is a safe and feasible method to assist tumour localisation in liver surgery. Different tumours appear to display characteristic fluorescent patterns. There may be no disadvantage of administering ICG closer to the operative date if it is more convenient, except in patients with liver cirrhosis.

The presence of previous abdominal surgery (PAS) has traditionally been considered to add difficulty to and increase risk of complications of laparoscopic procedures. This study aims to analyse the impact of non-liver-related PAS on the difficulty of minimally invasive liver resections (MILRs). After exclusion of patients with concomitant major surgical procedures as well as previous liver resections, 515 consecutive patients undergoing MILR in Singapore General Hospital from 2006 to 2019 were analysed, consisting of 161 MILR in patients with previous abdominal surgery (WPAS) and 354 MILR in patients without previous abdominal surgery (WOPAS). Propensity score-matched (PSM) comparison was performed between WPAS and WOPAS groups. In addition, subgroup analysis was made comparing previous upper or lower abdominal surgery and open versus minimally invasive approach of PAS. Outcomes measured include those associated with operative difficulty such as open conversion rates, operative time, blood loss, as well as morbidity and mortality rates. MILR outcomes in patients WPAS are not inferior to those WOPAS. Overall open conversion rate was 8.2%, higher in patients WOPAS compared to patients WPAS (11.9% versus 3.5%, p = 0.015). Operating time (p = 0.942), blood loss (p = 0.063), intraoperative blood transfusion (p = 0.750), length of hospital stay (p = 0.206), morbidity (p = 0.217) and 30- and 90-day mortality (p = 1 & p = 0.367) were comparable between the two groups and subgroup analysis. Outcomes of MILR in patients with previous non-liver-related abdominal surgery are not inferior to patients without previous abdominal surgery.

The management of post-liver resection recurrence is often the life-limiting factor in HCC treatment. While much has been published on intrahepatic recurrence and lung metastasis, there is a relative lack of data on intraabdominal extrahepatic metastasis (EHM). We sought to evaluate the outcomes of patients post-resection of intraabdominal EHM and assess preoperative factors predictive of early recurrence post-metastasectomy. We performed a retrospective review of 25 consecutive patients who underwent metastasectomy for intraabdominal EHM from 2003 to 2016 at our institution. Of the 25 cases of EHM, 16 were in the peritoneum, 3 in the adrenal glands, 3 in the large bowel, 1 in the spleen, 1 in the pancreas and 1 in the omentum. Median overall survival was 27 months (IQR 15–89 months). Twenty-one patients (84%) developed recurrence post-metastasectomy of EHM of which 12 patients experienced early recurrence within 12 months. The median time to recurrence post-metastasectomy was 11(IQR 15.5) months. Multivariate analysis demonstrated both hepatitis B (11 (91.6%) versus 4 (44.4%), p = 0.00) status and high tumour grade (8 (66.6%) versus 3 (25%), p = 0.004) to be significant independent predictors of early recurrence. Patients who experienced early recurrence had a significantly shorter median overall survival (18 months (95% CI 12.9–23.0)) compared to those who did not (89 months (95% CI 24.8–153.1), p = 0.004). Patients with EHM who underwent metastasectomy had a median overall survival of 27 months. Hepatitis B positivity and high primary tumour grade were preoperative predictors of futile surgery. All 7 patients who had both hepatitis B and high tumour grade experienced early recurrence post-metastasectomy.

Hepatic artery (HA) complications after liver transplant (LT) can lead to biliary complications, graft failure, and mortality. Although microsurgery has been established to improve anastomotic outcomes, it prolongs surgical time and has not reached widespread adoption at all transplant centers. We investigated the incidences of arterial, biliary complications and outcomes after using microsurgery to anastomose HA during LT. Retrospective cohort of consecutive LT performed from 2006 to 2018 was reviewed for operative details and postoperative outcomes. Cox-regression models were used to investigate the relationship between variables and outcomes. Eighty (62.5%) LTs (Group 1) were performed without and compared with 48 (Group 2) with microsurgical anastomosis of HA. Both groups were comparable in terms of arterial and biliary anastomoses performed. Incidence of early HA thrombosis was similar (6.2% vs 2.1%, P = .28). Group 2 had lower incidence of short- and long-term arterial complications, especially amongst living donor liver transplantations (LDLT) (5.3% vs 35.0%, P = .022). On multivariate analysis, microsurgery was associated with lower risk (hazard ratio [HR] 0.09, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.01-0.71) of, and LDLT had higher risk (HR 4.23, 95% CI 1.46-12.27) of arterial complications. Biliary complications were associated with LDLT (HR 3.91, 95% CI 1.30-11.71) and dual biliary anastomoses (HR 5.26, 95% CI 1.15-24.08) but not with occurrence of HA complications. Worse patient survival was associated with the occurrence of any HA complication (HR 4.11, 95% CI 1.78-9.48). Hepatic arterial complications can be reduced using microsurgical techniques for the anastomosis, resulting in improved patient survival outcomes after liver transplantation.

Introduction The impact on clinical practice of the international guidelines including the Sendai Guidelines (SG06) and Fukuoka Guidelines (FG12) on the management of cystic lesions of the pancreas (CLP) has not been well-studied. The primary aim was to examine the changing trends and outcomes in the surgical management of CLP in our institution over time and to determine the impact of these guidelines on our institution practice. Methods 462 patients with surgically-treated CLP were retrospectively reviewed and classified under the 2 guidelines. The cohort was divided into 3 time periods: 1998–2006, 2007–2012 and 2013 to 2018. Results Comparison across the 3 time periods demonstrated significantly increasing frequency of older patients, asymptomatic CLP, male gender, smaller tumor size, elevated Ca 19-9, use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and use of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) prior to surgery. There was also significantly increasing frequency of adherence to the international guidelines as evidenced by the increasing proportion of HRSG06 and HRFG12 CLP with a corresponding lower proportion of LRSG06 and LRFG12 being resected. This resulted in a significantly higher proportion of resected CLP whereby the final pathology confirmed that a surgery was actually indicated. Conclusions Over time, there was increasing adherence to the international guidelines for the selection of patients for surgical resection as evidenced by the significantly increasing proportion of HRSG06 and HRFG06 CLPs undergoing surgery. This was associated with a significantly higher proportion of patients with a definitive indication for surgery. These suggested that over time, there was a continuous improvement in our selection of appropriate CLP for surgical treatment.

Introduction Recent studies reported that laparoscopic pancreatoduodenectomy (LPD) is associated with superior perioperative outcomes compared to the open approach. However, concerns have been raised about the safety of LPD, especially during the learning phase. Robotic pancreatoduodenectomy (RPD) has been reported to be associated with a shorter learning curve compared to LPD. We herein present our initial experience with RPD. Methods A retrospective review of a single-institution prospective robotic hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) surgery database of 70 patients identified seven consecutive RPDs performed by a single surgeon in 2016-2017. These were matched at a 1:2 ratio with 14 open pancreatoduodenectomies (OPDs) selected from 77 consecutive pancreatoduodenectomies performed by the same surgeon between 2011 and 2017. Results Seven patients underwent RPD, of which five were hybrid procedures with open reconstruction. There were no open conversions. Median operative time was 710.0 (range 560.0-930.0) minutes. Two major morbidities (> Grade 2) occurred: one gastrojejunostomy bleed requiring endoscopic haemostasis and one delayed gastric emptying requiring feeding tube placement. There were no pancreatic fistulas, reoperations or 90-day/in-hospital mortalities in the RPD group. Comparison between RPD and OPD demonstrated that RPD was associated with a significantly longer operative time. Compared to open surgery, there was no significant difference in estimated blood loss, blood transfusion, postoperative stay, pancreatic fistula rates, morbidity and mortality rates, R0 resection rates, and lymph node harvest rates. Conclusion Our initial experience demonstrates that RPD is feasible and safe in selected patients. It can be safely adopted without any compromise in patient outcomes compared to the open approach.

Introduction Over the years, several guidelines have been introduced to guide management of mucinous pancreatic cystic neoplasms (mPCN). In this study, we aimed to evaluate and compare the clinically utility of the Sendai-06, Fukuoka-12, Fukuoka-17 and European-18 guidelines in predicting malignancy of mPCN. Methods One hundred and eighty-eight patients with mucinous cystic neoplasms (MCN) or intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) who underwent surgery were retrospectively reviewed and classified under the 4 guidelines. Malignancy was defined as high grade dysplasia and invasive carcinoma. Results Raised CA19-9>37U/ml, enhancing mural nodule≥5 mm and main pancreatic duct≥10 mm were significantly associated with malignancy on multivariate analysis. Increasing number of high risk features, absolute indications (European-18), worrisome risk or relative indications (European-18) were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of malignancy. The positive predictive values (PPV) of high risk features for Sendai-06, Fukuoka-12, Fukuoka-17 and absolute indications (European-18) for malignancy were 53%, 76%, 78% and 78% respectively. The negative predictive values (NPV) of the Sendai-06, Fukuoka-12 and Fukuoka-17 were 100%, while that of the European-18 was 92%. Risk of malignancy for patients with ≥4 worrisome features (Fukuoka-17) and ≥3 relative indications (European-18) was 66.7% and 75.0% respectively. Conclusions All 4 guidelines studied were useful in the initial triage of mPCN for the risk stratification of malignancy. The Fukuoka-17 had the highest PPV and NPV.

BACKGROUND At present, the majority of outcome studies of survival of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) post-liver resection (post-LR) present actuarial survival data, which often results in overestimation of survival. We sought to evaluate the actual 10-year survival post-LR for HCC and identify variables that are associated with long-term survival. METHODS We performed a retrospective review of 600 consecutive patients who underwent primary LR for HCC from 2000 to 2010 at our institution. Twenty-eight patients (4.7%) with 90-day mortality and 125 patients who were lost to follow-up within 10 years were excluded leaving 447 patients who met the study criteria. RESULTS There were 140 actual 10-year survivors of which 57 (40.7%) had a recurrence within 10 years. The actual 10-year overall survival (OS) rate of the 447 patients was 31.5% and the actual 10-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) was 18.6%. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that only age >65 years (OR, 0.29; p

The impact of liver cirrhosis on the difficulty of minimal invasive liver resection (MILR) remains controversial and current difficulty scoring systems do not take in to account the presence of cirrhosis as a significant factor in determining the difficulty of MILR. We hypothesized that the difficulty of MILR is affected by the presence of cirrhosis. Hence, we performed a 1:1 matched-controlled study comparing the outcomes between patients undergoing MILR with and without cirrhosis including the Iwate system and Institut Mutualiste Montsouris (IMM) system in the matching process. Between 2006 and 2019, 598 consecutive patients underwent MILR of which 536 met the study inclusion criteria. There were 148 patients with cirrhosis and 388 non-cirrhotics. One-to-one coarsened exact matching identified approximately exact matches between 100 cirrhotic patients and 100 non-cirrhotic patients. Comparison between MILR patients with cirrhosis and non-cirrhosis in the entire cohort demonstrated that patients with cirrhosis were associated with a significantly increased open conversion rate, transfusion rate, need for Pringles maneuver, postoperative, stay, postoperative morbidity and postoperative 90-day mortality. After 1:1 coarsened exact matching, MILR with cirrhosis were significantly associated with an increased open conversion rate (15% vs 6%, p = 0.03), operation time (261 vs 238 min, p

Objective Novel hepatoprotective strategies are needed to improve clinical outcomes during liver surgery. There is mixed data on the role of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC). We investigated RIPC in partial hepatectomy for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods This was a Phase II, single-center, sham-controlled, randomized controlled trial (RCT). The primary hypothesis was that RIPC would reduce acute liver injury following surgery indicated by serum alanine transferase (ALT) 24 h following hepatectomy in patients with primary HCC, compared to sham. Patients were randomized to receive either four cycles of 5 min/5 min arm cuff inflation/deflation immediately prior to surgery, or sham. Secondary endpoints included clinical, biochemical and pathological outcomes. Liver function measured by Indocyanine Green pulse densitometry was performed in a subset of patients. Results 24 and 26 patients were randomized to RIPC and control groups respectively. The groups were balanced for baseline characteristics, except the duration of operation was longer in the RIPC group. Median ALT at 24 h was similar between groups (196 IU/L IQR 113.5–419.5 versus 172.5 IU/L IQR 115–298 respectively, p = 0.61). Groups were similar in secondary endpoints. Conclusion This RCT did not demonstrate beneficial effects with RIPC on serum ALT levels 24 h after partial hepatectomy.

Background Resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM) has been established as the standard of care. This study aims to compare the change in clinicopathological characteristics of patients who underwent curative resection of CLM across two time periods—2000 to 2010 (P1) and 2011 to 2016 (P2) and evaluate the prognostic impact of these characteristics on survival outcomes. Methods Patients who undergo liver resection for CLM at Singapore General Hospital from January 2000 to December 2016 were identified from a prospectively maintained database. The primary end point was overall survival. Results There were 183/318 (57.5%) patients and 135/318 (42.5%) patients in P1 and P2, respectively. There was a lower proportion of patients who had nodal metastases from primary colorectal cancer and clinical risk score (CRS) less than 3 in P2 when compared to P1. There was no difference in survival between both time periods. Independent predictors of survival for the cohort were CEA levels ≥ 200 ng/ml, primary tumour grade and lymph nodal status. Independent predictors of poor survival in P1 were poorly differentiated colorectal cancer and nodal metastases while in P2, independent predictors of poor survival were multiple liver metastases and nodal metastases. Conclusion Nodal metastases from primary colorectal cancer are an independent predictor of poor survival across time for resectable CLM. Although there is no difference in survival between the two time periods, patients with multiple liver metastases should be carefully considered prior to surgery as it is also an independent predictor of overall survival.

Although hepatectomy is the mainstay of curative therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), post-operative complications remain high. Presently there is conflicting data on the impact of morbidity on oncologic outcomes. We sought to identify predictors for the occurrence of post-hepatectomy complications, as well as to analyse the impact on overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS).We performed a retrospective review of 888 patients who underwent resection for HCC from 2001 to 2016 in our institution.A total of 237 patients (26.7%) developed 254 complications of Clavien-Dindo Grade ≥2. Hepatitis B (p = 0.0397), elevated ASA score (p = 0.0002), higher platelet counts (p = 0.0277), raised pre-operative APRI scores (p = 0.0105) and bloodloss (p 0.0001) were independently associated with the development of complications. After propensity-score matching, 458 patients were compared in a 1:1 ratio (229 with complications versus 229 without). Patients with complications had significantly longer median length of stay (9 days [IQR 7-15] versus 6 days [IQR 5-8], p 0.0001), higher 90-day mortality rates as well as inferior OS (p = 0.0139), but there was no difference in RFS (p = 0.4577). Age (p = 0.0006), elevated Child Pugh points (p 0.0001), microvascular invasion (p = 0.0002), multifocal tumours (p = 0.0002), R1 resection (p = 0.0443) and development of complications (p = 0.0091) were independent predictors of inferior OS.Post-operative morbidity affected both short-term and OS outcomes after hepatectomy for HCC. Hepatitis B, higher ASA scores, elevated preoperative APRI and increased blood loss were found to predict a higher likelihood of developing complications. This may potentially be mitigated by careful patient selection and adopting strict measures to minimise intraoperative bleeding.

Backgrounds/aims This study aims to describe our experience with minimally-invasive distal pancreatectomies, with emphasis on the comparison between robotic distal pancreatectomy (RDP) and laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy (LDP). Methods Retrospective review of 102 consecutive RDP and LDP from 2006 to 2019 was performed. Results There were 27 and 75 patients who underwent RDP and LDP, respectively. There were 12 (11.8%) open conversions and 16 (15.7%) patients had major (＞grade 2) morbidities. Patients who underwent RDP had significantly higher rates of splenic preservation (44.4% vs. 13.3%, p=0.002), higher rates of splenic-vessel preservation (40.7% vs. 9.3%, p=0.001), higher median difficulty score (5 vs. 3, p=0.002) but longer operation time (385 vs. 245 minutes, p＜0.001). The rate of open conversion tended to be lower with RDP (3.7% vs. 14.7%, p=0.175). Conclusions In our institution practice, both RDP and LDP were safe and effective. The use of RDP appeared to be complementary to LDP, allowing us to perform more difficult procedures with comparable postoperative outcomes.

Liver resection (LR) is the main modality of treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). Post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF) remains the most dreaded complication. We aim to create a prognostic score for early risk stratification of patients undergoing LR. Clinical and operative data of 472 patients between 2000 and 2016 with HCC or CRLM undergoing major hepatectomy were extracted and analysed from a prospectively maintained database. PHLF was defined using the 50–50 criteria. Liver cirrhosis and fatty liver were histologically confirmed in 35.6% and 53% of patients. 4.7% (n = 22) of patients had PHLF. A 90-day mortality was 5.1% (n = 24). Pre-operative albumin–bilirubin score (p = 0.0385), prothrombin time (p 7 and International Study Group for Liver Surgery criteria, intensive care unit admissions, length of stay, all complications, major complications, re-admissions and mortality (p

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) are the most common primary liver cancers. With the increasing incidence of ICC over the past two decades in Asia, it is essential to differentiate between HCC and ICC. However, ICC may mimic the radiological appearance of HCC on computed tomography scans (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), leading to misdiagnosis of ICC. The objective of this study is to evaluate and describe the association of specific pre-operative imaging characteristics (arterial enhancement, portal venous washout) in patients with histologically proven resected ICC in our centre. Data on patients with histology-proven ICC and mixed hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinomas (HCC-CC) who had undergone surgical resection at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Pre-operative cross-sectional imaging reports were analysed. Ninety-one patients underwent resection between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2016. Among those with no risk factors for HCC, a significant percentage of patients with ICC (24.3%) show imaging characteristics of both arterial phase hyperenhancement and non-peripheral venous washout. Among patients with risk factors for HCC, between 20.0 and 33.3% of patients with pure ICC fulfilled the imaging criteria for HCC, and this proportion was generally even higher in the mixed HCC-CC group. A significant proportion of patients with pure ICC showed pre-operative imaging characteristics which fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for HCC. The differential of ICC should be borne in mind in populations where both malignancies are endemic.

Introduction: This study aims to evaluate the impact of first assistant surgeon experience on the outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomies in a university-affiliated teaching hospital. Methods: This ...

Background The evidence is conflicting regarding the effect of delays from the time of diagnosis to surgery on the survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. We sought to investigate the impact of time to surgery on overall survival for patients who underwent curative resection for primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods We performed a retrospective review of all patients who underwent liver resection for primary hepatocellular carcinoma between the years 2000 and 2015. Using 30-, 60-, and 90-day cutoffs, we investigated the effect of time to surgery on survival outcomes by dichotomizing the patients and using inverse probability of treatment weighting to ensure comparability. We also investigated time to surgery in prognostic subgroups by modeling the statistical interaction between time to surgery and the relevant prognostic variable in multivariable Cox models. Results A total of 863 patients underwent liver resection for primary hepatocellular carcinoma during the study period. Using 30-, 60-, and 90-day cutoffs, time to surgery did not have a significant bearing on overall survival. For elderly patients (>70 years), patients with Child-Pugh B liver disease, American Society of Anesthesiologists status 2/3, tumor size >5cm, tumor size ≥10cm and presence of extrahepatic invasion, hazard ratio decreased and overall survival improved as time to surgery increased. However, for patients with liver cirrhosis or portal hypertension, increasing time to surgery was found to portend higher risks of death. Conclusion Time to surgery does not have a significant bearing on overall survival, and modest delays even appear to be associated with improved survival in specific subsets of patients. The importance of these findings is that patients with hepatocellular carcinoma should be fully optimized before and not rushed to surgery because of concerns of tumor progression and a diminished survival.

503 Background: Intermediate hepatocellular carcinoma is a heterogenous group of disease. We aimed to prognosticate survival after surgical resection of HCC stratified by stage with amalgamation of the modified Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system and location of tumour. Methods: This single-institutional retrospective cohort study included patients with HCC who underwent surgical resection between 1st January 2000 to 30th June 2016. Participants were divided into 6 different subgroups based on the Milan Criteria (MC), the “Up-to-7” criteria, and location of lesions: A-u) Within MC with Unilobar lesions; A-b) Within MC + Bilobar lesions; B1-u) Out of MC + within Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B1-b) Out of MC + within Up-to-7 + Bilobar lesions; B2-u) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Unilobar lesions; B2-b) Out of MC + Out of Up-To-7 + Bilobar lesions. A separate survival analysis was conducted for solitary HCC lesions according to three subgroups: A-S (Within MC); B1-S (Out of MC + within Up-To-7); B2-S (Out of MC + out of Up-To-7). The respective primary and secondary time-to-event outcomes were overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results: 794 of 1043 patients with surgical resection for HCC were analysed. Groups A-u (64.6 %), A-b (58.4 %) and B1-u (56.2 %) had 5-year cumulative overall survival (OS) rates above 50% after surgical resection and median OS exceeding 60 months (P=0.0001). The 5-year cumulative recurrence-free survival rates (RFS) were 40.4% (group A-u), 38.2% (group A-b), 36.3% (group B1-u), 24.6% (group B2-u), and 7.3% (group B2-b)(P=0.0001). For solitary lesions, the 5-year OS for the subgroups were A-S (65.1%), B1-S (56.0%) and B2-S (47.1%) (P=0.0003). Compared to A-S, there was also a significant trend towards relatively poorer OS as the lesion sizes increased in B1-S (HR 1.46, 95%CI 1.03 – 2.08) and B2-S (HR 1.65, 95%CI 1.25 – 2.18). Conclusions: We adopted a novel approach combining the modified BCLC B sub-classification and dispersion of tumour to show that surgical resection may be curative in a select subgroup of patients with intermediate HCC that fall outside BCLC Stage A, specifically those with unilobar lesions and are within the “up-to-7” criteria. Furthermore, We found that size prognosticates resection outcomes in solitary tumours.

Introduction: The introduction of laparoscopic surgery has changed abdominal surgery. We evaluated the evolution and changing trends associated with adoption of laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) and the experience of a surgeon without prior LLR experience. Methods: A retrospective review of 310 patients who underwent LLR performed by a single surgeon from 2011 to 2020 was conducted. Exclusion criteria were patients who underwent laparoscopic liver surgeries such as excision biopsy, local ablation, drainage of abscesses and deroofing of liver cysts. There were 300 cases and the cohort was divided into 5 groups of 60 patients. Results: There were 288 patients who underwent a totally minimally invasive approach, including 28 robotic-assisted procedures. Open conversion occurred for 13 (4.3%) patients; the conversion rate decreased significantly from 10% in the initial period to 3.3% subsequently. There were 83 (27.7%) major resections and 131 (43.7%) resections were performed for tumours in the difficult posterosuperior location. There were 152 (50.7%) patients with previous abdominal surgery, including 52 (17.3%) repeat liver resections for recurrent tumours, and 60 patients had other concomitant operations. According to the Iwate criteria, 135 (44.7%) were graded as high/expert difficulty. Major morbidity (>grade 3a) occurred in 12 (4.0%) patients and there was no 30-day mortality. Comparison across the 5 patient groups demonstrated a significant trend towards older patients, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, increasing frequency of LLR with previous abdominal surgery, increasing frequency of portal hypertension and huge tumours, decreasing blood loss and decreasing transfusion rate across the study period. Surgeon experience (≤60 cases) and Institut Mutualiste Montsouris (IMM) high grade resections were independent predictors of open conversion. Open conversion was associated with worse perioperative outcomes such as increased blood loss, transfusion rate, morbidity and length of stay. Conclusion: LLR can be safely adopted for resections of all difficulty grades, including major resections and for tumours located in the difficult posterosuperior segments, with a low open conversion rate. Keywords: Laparoscopic hepatectomy, laparoscopic liver resection, robotic hepatectomy, robotic liver resection, Singapore

Few studies have evaluated the outcomes of curative liver resection (LR) in octogenarian patients, analysed cancer-specific survival (CSS) with HCC-related death or explored the age-varying effect of HCC-related death in elderly patients undergoing LR. We aim to determine the effect of age on the short and long-term outcomes of LR for HCC.Between 2000 and 2018, 1,092 patients with primary HCC who underwent LR with curative intent were retrospectively reviewed. The log-rank test and Gray's test were used to assess the equality of survivor functions and competing risk-adjusted cumulative incidence functions between patients in the three age categories respectively. Regression adjustment was used to control for confounding bias via a Principal Component Analysis. Quantile, Firth logistic, Cox, and Fine-Gray competing risk regression were used to analyse continuous, binary, time-to-event, and cause-specific survival respectively. Restricted cubic splines were used to illustrate the dose-effect relationship between age and patient outcomes.The study comprised of 764 young patients (70 years), 278 septuagenarians (70-79 years old) and 50 octogenarians (≥80 years). Compared to young patients, octogenarians had significantly lower 5-year OS(62.1% vs 37.7%, p 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in 1-year RFS(73.1% vs 67.0%, p = 0.774) or 5-year CSS (5.4% vs 15.2%, p = 0.674). Every 10-year increase in age was significantly associated with an increase length of stay (p 0.001), postoperative complications (p = 0.004) and poorer OS(p = 0.018) but not significantly associated with major complications (p = 0.279), CSS(p = 0.338) or RFS(p = 0.941).Age by itself was associated with OS after LR for HCC but was not a significant risk factor for HCC-related death.