[Surgical treatment of liver cancer: experience of the A Coruña UHC (Spain)]. / Tratamiento quirúrgico del hepatocarcinoma: experiencia del CHU A Coruña.

INTRODUCTION: Liver cancer (LC) is one of the most frequent tumours, in which the potentially curative treatment is surgery: partial surgical resection or liver transplant. OBJECTIVES: To determine the morbidity and mortality, survival, and their associated factors in patients with LC, according to the type of surgical treatment: partial surgical resection or liver transplant. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective, observational follow-up study of LC patients diagnosed and treated from June 1994 to December 2007. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed, as well as a Kaplan- Meier survival analysis and Cox regression. RESULTS: The incidence of tumour recurrence in the 150 transplant patients was 13.3%, with a survival at 1, 3, and 5 years of 89.3%, 73.1% and 61.4%, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that only the histological grade/differentiation was an independent risk factor. In the 33 patients with partial surgical resection, the incidence of tumour was 51.5%, with a survival at 1, 3, and 5 years of 90.9%, 60.2%, and 38.6%, respectively. A significantly higher mortality was observed in patients with higher tumour and TNM staging. CONCLUSIONS: The survival throughout follow-up was higher in liver transplant, and tumour recurrence was more frequent in patients with partial surgical resection. The survival results in transplanted patients are consistent with the Spanish and European Liver Transplant Register and with the United Network for Organ Sharing register.

An open, randomized, multicenter clinical trial of oral tacrolimus in liver allograft transplantation: a comparison of dual vs. triple drug therapy.

Triple therapy combining an anticalcineurin agent, corticosteroids, and azathioprine (AZA) in liver transplantation has been frequently applied, particularly in Europe. Debates have arisen concerning the use of a third drug (AZA), mainly in patients receiving tacrolimus (TAC). An open-label, multicenter, prospective, and randomized trial was performed to assess the efficacy and safety of TAC and corticosteroids (dual therapy [D]) vs. TAC, corticosteroids, and AZA (triple therapy [T]) in liver transplantation. A total of 180 patients were randomized, 92 in D and 88 in T group. Patients were followed during 3 months for efficacy and safety and up to 24 months for patient and graft survival assessments. The rate of biopsy-proven acute rejection was higher in D than in T group (40.7% vs. 24.4%; P = 0.021). A higher incidence of positive HCV status in D group (55.6% vs. 40.7%; P = 0.049) may explain this difference, since significantly more patients of this HCV subpopulation experienced acute rejection when treated with D therapy (48% vs. 20%; P = 0.008). No treatment differences were apparent for HCV-negative patients. The 24-month graft survival tended to be inferior in T group, 69.8% vs. 75.8% (P = 0.283). Similar results were observed regarding patient survival at the same time point, with values of 72.9% vs. 76.9% (P = 0.573), favoring D group. Both regimens showed comparable safety profiles with the exception of hematological abnormalities, which were more frequently observed in T group. In conclusion, both regimens were shown to be effective although increased toxicity and a trend towards a lower graft and patient survival were observed in T group.