| Summary: | Lei Liang,1,2,* Ming-Da Wang,3,* Yao-Ming Zhang,4 Wan-Guang Zhang,5 Cheng-Wu Zhang,1 Wan Yee Lau,3,6 Feng Shen,3 Timothy M Pawlik,7 Dong-Sheng Huang,1,2,8 Tian Yang1– 3,8 1Department of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Minimal Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Second Military Medical University (Navy Medical University), Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 4The 2nd Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Meizhou People’s Hospital, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Hepatic Surgery, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 6Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Hong Kong, China; 7Department of Surgery, Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA; 8The Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People’ s Hospital (People’ s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College), Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tian YangDepartment of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Minimal Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, No. 158, Shangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310014, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail yangtiandfgd@hotmail.comDong-Sheng HuangDepartment of Hepatobiliary, Pancreatic and Minimal Invasive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, No. 158, Shangtang Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310014, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail Huangdongshengsj@hotmail.comBackground: High alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) expressions (> 400 ng/mL) are associated with poor oncological characteristics for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, prognosis after liver resection for high-AFP HCC is poorly studied. To investigate long-term recurrence and survival after hepatectomy for high-AFP HCC, and to identify the predictive value of postoperative incomplete biomarker response (IBR) on overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS).Methods: Patients undergoing curative resection for high-AFP HCC were analyzed. According to the decline magnitude of serum AFP as measured at first follow-up (4∼ 6 weeks after surgery), all patients were divided into the complete biomarker response (CBR) and IBR groups. Characteristics, recurrence, and survival rates were compared. Univariate and Multivariate Cox-regression analyses were performed to identify independent predictors associated with poorer OS and RFS after liver resection for high-AFP HCC.Results: Among 549 patients, the overall and early recurrence rates in patients with IBR were significantly higher than patients with CBR (97.8%vs.56.4%, and 92.5%vs.33.3%, both P< 0.001). On multivariate analysis, postoperative IBR was the strongest risk factor with the highest hazard ratio in predicting poor OS (HR 2.97; 95% CI 2.49∼ 3.45; P< 0.001) and RFS (HR 4.29; 95% CI 3.31∼ 5.55; P< 0.001).Conclusion: Postoperative biomarker response of serum AFP can be used in predicting recurrence and survival for high-AFP HCC patients. Once postoperative IBR was identified at first follow-up, subsequent enhanced recurrence surveillance and available treatments against recurrence should actively be considered.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, alpha-fetoprotein, hepatectomy, survival, recurrence
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