Equivalent Outcomes After Anatomical and Non-anatomical Resection of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Patients with Preserved Liver Function

Although anatomical resection (AR) is considered better than non-anatomical resection (NAR) for the treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), there is only limited evidence in support of this argument. The aim of this study was to investigate whether AR is superior to NAR regarding postoperative outcomes in patients with small solitary HCC and preserved liver function. The study subjects were 92 curatively-resected patients with adequate liver function reserve (indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min < 15%, prothrombin time > 70%, serum albumin > 3.5 g/dl) and macroscopically small (a parts per thousand currency sign3.0 cm) solitary HCC without macroscopic vascular invasion; 30 patients underwent AR and 62 patients NAR. Postoperative short-term outcomes including mortality and morbidity and long-term outcomes were compared in the two groups. There was no significant difference in clinicopathological background in the two groups. Although resected liver volume was significantly larger in the AR group than the NAR group (p < 0.0001), no significant differences were detected in the incidence of mortality or morbidity. For long-term outcomes, there were no significant differences between the two groups in disease-free survival or overall survival. Multivariate analysis showed that the extent of surgical procedure was not a significant prognostic factor for disease-free or overall survival. AR of a solitary small HCC did not carry postoperative outcome advantages compared with NAR in patients with preserved liver function. We recommend NAR for hepatic resection of small solitary HCC in patients with preserved liver function.