Impact of Body Composition on the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Recurrence After Liver Transplantation.
J Clin Med 2019;
8:jcm8101672. [PMID:
31614892 PMCID:
PMC6832484 DOI:
10.3390/jcm8101672]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Revised: 09/20/2019] [Accepted: 10/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Body composition parameters are reported to influence the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after liver resection, yet data on patients undergoing liver transplantation are scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the amount of abdominal adipose tissue and skeletal muscles on the risk of HCC recurrence after liver transplantation.
METHODS
This was a retrospective observational study performed on 77 HCC patients after liver transplantation. Subcutaneous fat area (SFA), visceral fat area, psoas muscle area and total skeletal muscle area were assessed on computed tomography on the level of L3 vertebra and divided by square meters of patient height. The primary outcome measure was five-year recurrence-free survival.
RESULTS
Recurrence-free survival in the entire cohort was 95.7%, 90.8%, and 86.5% after one, three, and five years post-transplantation, respectively. SFA was significantly associated with the risk of HCC recurrence (p = 0.013), whereas no significant effects were found for visceral fat and skeletal muscle indices. The optimal cut-off for SFA for prediction of recurrence was 71.5 cm2/m2. Patients with SFA < 71.5 cm2/m2 and ≥71.5 cm2/m2 exhibited five-year recurrence-free survival of 96.0% and 55.4%, respectively (p = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
Excessive amount of subcutaneous adipose tissue is a risk factor for HCC recurrence after liver transplantation and may be considered in patient selection process.
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