Outcome of a second hepatectomy in octogenarians with hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence: single centre's experience

BACKGROUND Physicians rarely select surgery a second time as the treatment for octogenarians with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence. METHODS We encountered eight male and three female octogenarians underwent surgery a second time as the treatment for HCC recurrence (octo group). We studied these cases clinically and compared them with 25 younger people underwent surgery a second time (young group). All patients of octo group have resectable HCC according to the Japanese guideline, that is HCC patients with Child-Pugh status A or B and who have solitary or only a few HCC nodules, in addition, no serious comorbidities, no serious dementia, a performance status of 0-1 and the will to receive hepatectomy. RESULTS The average maximum tumour size at the first hepatectomy was significantly larger than that at the second hepatectomy (P