Incidence and Clinical Features of Hepatitis C Virus-associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients without Liver Cirrhosis in Hepatitis B Virus-endemic Area.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is rarely observed in patients without liver cirrhosis (LC). We evaluated the incidence and clinical feature of HCV-associated HCC patients with or without LC.

METHODS

The medical records of 1,516 patients diagnosed as having primary HCC at our hospital between January 2005 and December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Of these, 154 (10.2%) HCV-associated HCC patients were analyzed. LC was diagnosed histologically or clinically.

RESULTS

Seventeen (11.0%) of the 154 patients had non-cirrhotic HCC, and all were of Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class A, Among the 17 patients, 88.2% were male, all had nodular type HCC, and only 2 (11.8%) were under HCC surveillance. Median overall survival (OS) of HCV-associated HCC patients with and without LC was 15 months and 37 months, respectively. Cumulative OS rates were not different between non-cirrhotic patients and cirrhotic patients with CTP class A (=0.229). Cumulative OS rates were significantly higher in non-cirrhotic patients than in cirrhotic patients of CTP class B (<0.001) or C (<0.001). Multivariate analyses showed serum AST (hazard ratio [HR] 1.01, =0.003) and AFP levels (HR 1.01, =0.016), antiviral therapy (HR 0.25, =0.022), and LC of CTP class B (HR, 5.24, =0.006) or C (HR 21.79, <0.001) were significantly associated with prognosis in HCV-associated HCC patients.

CONCLUSIONS

HCC in a non-cirrhotic liver was found in 11% of HCV-associated HCC patients. OSs of HCV-associated HCC patients were better in those of CTP A, regardless of LC than in those with LC of CTP class B or C.