Long-term Prognosis of Combined Hepatocellular and Cholangiocarcinoma After Curative Resection Comparison With Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Cholangiocarcinoma

Goal: In this study, we attempted to evaluate the prognosis of combined hepatocellular and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) with comparison to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (CC). Background: The prognosis of cHCC-CC has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we attempted to evaluate the prognosis of cHCC-CC with comparison to HCC and CC. Study: Consecutive patients who underwent curative resection for cHCC-CC at a single tertiary care center in Korea and their age, sex, and Child-Turcotte-Pugh class matched HCC and CC patients were included. We evaluated time-to-recurrence (TTR) and overall survival (OS) of cHCC-CC cases and compared them with HCC and CC patients. Results: Thirty cHCC-CC, 60 HCC, and 60CC patients were included. For cHCC-CC group, the median TTR and OS were 5.4 and 18.0 months. After adjustment for confounding factors, the cHCC-CC group had a shorter TTR than did HCC group [relative risk (RR), 2.76; P < 0.001] and CC group (RR, 2.00; P = 0.013), and a shorter OS than HCC group (RR, 4.70; P < 0.001). Compared with the each stage I diseases, cHCC-CC had shorter TTR than HCC (RR, 4.59; P = 0.001) and CC (RR, 2.74, P = 0.015) and shorter OS than HCC (RR, 9.35; P = 0.001). Conclusions: The results of this study indicated that cHCC-CC had a significantly poorer prognosis than HCC and CC even after curative resection.