Short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy in elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE

To compare short- and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) in elderly and non-elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODS

Clinical and follow-up data of patients with HCC who underwent LH in our Institute from January 2011 to December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into elderly (48 cases, 70 years old or older) or non-elderly group (97 cases, <70 years) according to their age at the time of operation. The short- and long-term outcomes of both groups were compared.

RESULTS

The Charlson comorbidity index and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of patients in the elderly group were higher than those of patients in the nonelderly group, and the rates of hepatitis virus infection and cirrhosis in the elderly group were lower than those in the non-elderly group. The rest of the preoperative data showed no statistical significance. Short-term outcomes, including operation time, intraoperative blood loss, transfer rate, length of hospital stay, incidence of complications and their severity within 30 days after surgery, and pathological findings, showed no significant difference between the elderly and non-elderly groups. Recurrence rates, treatment of the recurrence, overall survival (OS) rates, and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were similar in both groups. Multivariate analysis showed that age was not an independent predictor of OS and DFS.

CONCLUSIONS

LH in elderly patients can achieve short- and long-term outcomes similar to those in non-elderly patients with liver cancer. Old age is not a contraindication for LH in patients with HCC.