Abstract
PURPOSE: When hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is closely associated with the left branch of the portal vein, there is still controversy regarding the surgical approach. METHODS: This study enrolled 330 HCC patients with tumors adjacent to the left branch of the portal vein. Among them, 85 patients underwent left hemihepatectomy (LH), while the remaining 235 underwent liver lobectomy (LL), which included left medial segmentectomy or left lateral sectionectomy. Perioperative complications, time to recurrence and overall survival (OS) were compared using propensity score matching. RESULTS: LH resulted in a lower 5-year recurrence rate and higher 5-year OS rate than LL (56.5% vs 74.0%, p=0.002; 67.4% vs 53.5%, p=0.029). The LL group showed a higher tendency for early recurrence (ER) and intrahepatic recurrence (IR). The cumulative IR rates at 1- 3-, and 5-years for the LH group and the LL group were 17.0%, 36.7%, 45.1% and 33.8%, 57.1%, 63.7%, respectively, with a p-value of 0.007. There was no statistically significant difference in the cumulative ER rates between the two groups at 1-, 3-, and 5- years. Furthermore, the LH group and the LL group had similar perioperative complications, and no cases of liver failure occurred. CONCLUSION: LH, compared to LL, reduced the IR rate and ER rate in HCC patients with tumor adjacent to the left branch of the portal vein. It improved the OS outcome of the patients, and there was no significant difference in perioperative complications between the two groups.