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LI-RADS Morphological Type Predicts Prognosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Radical Resection

  • Hepatobiliary Tumors
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Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to explore the association of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tumor morphological classification with early recurrence (ER) and overall survival (OS) after radical surgery of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Patients and Methods

A retrospective analysis of 296 patients with HCC who underwent radical resection was performed. On the basis of LI-RADS, tumor imaging morphology was classified into three types. The clinical imaging features, ER, and survival rates of three types were compared. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were conducted to identify prognostic factors associated with OS and ER after hepatectomy for HCC.

Results

There were 167 tumors of type 1, 95 of type 2, and 34 of type 3. In patients with type 3 HCC, postoperative mortality and ER were significantly higher than in patients with type 1 and type 2 (55.9% versus 32.6% versus 27.5% and 52.9% versus 33.7% versus 28.7%). In multivariate analysis, the LI-RADS morphological type was a stronger risk factor for predicting poor OS [hazard ratio (HR) 2.77, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.59–4.85, P < 0.001] and ER (HR 2.14, 95% CI 1.24–3.70, P = 0.007). A subgroup analysis revealed that type 3 was associated with poor OS and ER in > 5 cm cases but not in < 5 cm cases.

Conclusions

ER and OS of patients with HCC undergoing radical surgery can be predicted using the preoperative tumor LI-RADS morphological type, which could help to select personalized treatment plans for patients with HCC in the future.

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Data Availability

The data used in this study are available from the corresponding authors and upon request.

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Acknowledgement

We thank Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (no. LH2022H067), Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital Haiyan Funds (no. JJZD2022-12), Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital Haiyan Funds (no. JJQN2021-07), and Heilongjiang Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. LBH-Z21179) for financial support.

Funding

This research was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (no. LH2022H067); Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital Haiyan Funds (no. JJZD2022-12); Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital Haiyan Funds (no. JJQN2021-07); and Heilongjiang Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. LBH-Z21179).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Chunhui Zhang and Rui Yang have contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Chunhui Zhang PhD, Rui Yang MD & Yuqing Tao MD

  2. Department of Radiology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Xinxin Wang MD & Yang Zhou PhD

  3. Department of Outpatient Chemotherapy, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Shuli Tang PhD

  4. Department of Pathology, Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

    Zhennan Tian PhD

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  1. Chunhui Zhang PhD
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Contributions

Study conception and design: C.H.Z. and R.Y.; acquisition of data: X.X.W. and Y.Q.T.; analysis and interpretation of data: C.H.Z., R.Y., and S.L.T.; drafting of manuscript: C.H.Z. and R.Y.; critical revision: Z.N.T., Y.Z., C.H.Z., and R.Y.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yang Zhou PhD.

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Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Ethics Review Board of Harbin Medical University. The requirement of informed consent from the patients was waived because of the retrospective design of this study, and patients’ information was protected. The study was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Zhang, C., Yang, R., Wang, X. et al. LI-RADS Morphological Type Predicts Prognosis of Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Radical Resection. Ann Surg Oncol 30, 4876–4885 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-13494-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-023-13494-4

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