Late recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation

Abstract

Aim: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and liver transplant (LT) prolongs survival. However, 15-20% will experience recurrent HCC, most occurring within 2 years of LT. HCC patients with late recurrences (> 5 years after LT) may have distinctive clinical/biological characteristics.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 88 patients who underwent LT for HCC during 1993-2015, analyzing demographics, clinical factors, explant pathology, and outcome.

Results: Median follow-up was 6.4 years. HCC recurred in 15 (17.0%) patients with mean time to recurrence of 3.96 ± 3.99 years. Five patients reoccurred > 5 years post-LT. All late recurrences involved males in their 50s, recurring at 8.5 years on average. Recurrences occurred in chest wall (2), liver (2), lung (2), bone (1) and pelvis (1), with multifocal involvement in 2 patients. Four patients died within 18 months of late recurrence. The fifth patient is alive after ablation of liver recurrence and treatment with sorafenib and everolimus.

Conclusion: One-third of post-LT patients with recurrent HCC experienced late recurrence. Although the sample size makes it difficult to identify significant risk factors, this study highlights the importance of long-term follow-up and need for biomarkers to identify patients at risk for late recurrences.

Keywords

Hepatocellular carcinoma / liver transplantation / recurrence

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