Alpha-fetoprotein-adjusted-to-HCC-size criteria are associated with favourable survival after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The Milan criteria are recommended to select hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for liver transplantation (LT). The utility of other selection criteria, such as the alpha-fetoprotein-adjusted-to-HCC-size (AFP-UTS) criteria, is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: We investigated, in HCC patients who underwent LT, the survival and the recurrence after LT according to AFP-UTS and Milan criteria, the impact of early recurrence and the correlation between radiological and pathological staging. METHODS: Adult HCC patients undergoing deceased donor LT at the Medical University of Vienna between 1997 and 2014 were retrospectively analysed. RESULTS: Among 166 patients included, the number of patients who fulfilled Milan or AFP-UTS criteria was the same (139 [84%] each), although not all of them were the same individuals; 127 patients (77%) fulfilled both Milan and AFP-UTS criteria. Median overall survival of patients within AFP-UTS was 126.9 versus 34.2 months outside AFP-UTS (5-year survival rate 71% vs. 43%; p = 0.104). The 5-year recurrence rate was significantly lower in patients fulfilling the AFP-UTS criteria (18%) than in those exceeding AFP-UTS (64%; p < 0.001). Of the 139 patients within Milan criteria on imaging, 24 (17%) had microvascular invasion and 47 (34%) were outside Milan according to explant histology. Early recurrence correlated with AFP-UTS and was associated with dismal survival (median overall survival 17.2 vs. 122.1 months, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The overall survival of patients within AFP-UTS criteria was favourable with a 5-year survival rate above 70%. Early recurrence is associated with worse survival after LT. The AFP-UTS criteria may be more suitable to exclude patients at high risk of (early) recurrence than Milan criteria.