Hepatocellular carcinoma in the noncirrhotic liver: Clinical features and outcomes in Veracruz, Mexico. / Carcinoma hepatocelular en hígado no cirrótico: características clínicas y resultados en Veracruz, México.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary tumor of the liver. HCC in the noncirrhotic liver accounts for 15-20% of all HCC. Noncirrhotic HCC is a clinically different entity because of the non-neoplastic liver parenchyma involved. Our aim was to describe the presentation, treatment, and predictive survival results of noncirrhotic HCC in Veracruz. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retrospective study, spanning 13 years, was conducted on patients with noncirrhotic HCC. It analyzed their clinical characteristics, fibrosis/cirrhosis biologic index (NAFLD, MELD, ALBI, APRI, CDS, FIB-4, GUCI, Lok) results, disease treatment, and survival. RESULTS: From a total of 168 cases of HCC, 33 (19.6%) noncirrhotic patients were included in the study. Of those patients, the mean patient age was 67.3 years (51.5% men), 9.1% had hepatitis C virus infection, and 27.3% were alcoholics. Less than 20% of the patients had biologic indexes suggestive of fibrosis/cirrhosis. Mean tumor size was 7.7cm and 42.4% of the patients had alpha-fetoprotein levels>15ng/ml. A total of 52.5% of the tumors were classified as Okuda II and 30.3% of the patients had advanced disease (the Milan criteria). Liver resection was performed on 51.5% of the patients, radiofrequency ablation on 18.2%, and transarterial chemoembolization on 9.1%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 55.4%. Liver resection resulted in the best 5-year survival rate (72.7%). Age>67 years and elevated alpha-fetoprotein levels were associated with poorer survival (P<.05, log-rank). CONCLUSIONS: The characteristics and survival rate of HCC in the noncirrhotic liver were similar to those reported in other studies. Liver resection provided the highest survival rates. The liver fibrosis biologic indexes were not risk factors for survival.