Factors Affecting Local and Intra Hepatic Distant Recurrence After Surgery for Hcc: An Alternative Perspective on Microvascular Invasion and Satellitosis – A Western European Multicentre Study

Background: Few studies have focused on risk factors which may predict an intrahepatic local recurrence (LR) on the surgical edge rather than a distant recurrence (DR) in other liver segments after surgery for hepatocarcinoma (HCC). The purpose of this study was to assess the risk factors for both patterns of recurrence. Methods: An international, multicentre, retrospective study was conducted by collecting data on all consecutive patients with a first diagnosis of HCC who were treated between 2010 and 2017. The presence of macrovascular invasion was an exclusion criteria. Results: About 376 patients were enrolled, and, among them, 62 presented LR, while 90 had DR. Baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups, but the DR group had a much higher rate of HCV infection (48.9% vs 29%, p 0.014) and a higher median nodule size (3.40 cm IQR 2.2–5.5 versus 3.0 cm IQR 2.0–5.0 in the LR group, p 0.025). A positive surgical margin (R1, HR 4.721; 95% CI 1.83–12.17; p 0.001) was the only independent risk factor for LR, while MVI (HR 1.837; 95% CI 1.03–3.77; p 0.039) and satellitosis (HR 2.440, 95% CI 1.43–3.77, p 0.001) were the only predictive factors for DR. Conclusion: MVI and satellitosis are predictive factors of intrahepatic distant recurrence, configuring a probable hallmark of advanced systemic disease, regardless of the treatment. LR has to be considered the expression of surgical failure.