Health-Related Quality of Life and Psychological Distress in Patients With Early-Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma After Hepatic Resection or Transplantation

Transplant Proc. 2016 Jul-Aug;48(6):2107-11. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2016.04.012.

Abstract

Background: The aim of our study was to compare the post-operative health-related quality of life in patients with small hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; within the Milan criteria) after liver resection or liver transplantation.

Methods: From August 2000 to December 2010, 207 patients were diagnosed with early HCC within the Milan criteria. We divided these patients into 2 groups according to their curative schedule: the liver transplantation group (n = 95) and the liver resection group (n = 110). We compared the baseline characteristics of these 2 groups of patients, after which we focused on comparing the post-operative health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and psychological outcome in these 2 groups.

Results: The demographics of the patients in the 2 groups were similar, and there were no significant differences except for higher family income in the transplantation group (P = .002).With long-term follow-up, there were no significant differences in the 8 domains of the HRQOL and the 9 domains of the psychological outcome measure between the 2 groups. Both the transplantation and resection groups exhibited good outcomes in both HRQOL and psychological outcome measures.

Conclusions: Several years after operation, early-stage HCC patients who underwent liver transplantation or resection had similar long-term HRQOL and psychological outcomes.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / psychology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / surgery*
  • Female
  • Hepatectomy / psychology*
  • Humans
  • Liver Function Tests
  • Liver Neoplasms / psychology
  • Liver Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Liver Transplantation / psychology*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Quality of Life*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Stress, Psychological* / psychology
  • Treatment Outcome