Impact of advanced age on the short- and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma: a single-center analysis over a 20-year period

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of age on both the risk of hepatectomy and the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Patients undergoing an initial hepatectomy for HCC were classified into 2 age groups: 75 years or over ( n = 113) and less than 75 years ( n = 499). Results A zero 90-day mortality was achieved in the elderly. Although the recurrence rate and recurrence sites were almost similar between the 2 groups, the 5-year survival rate in the elderly patients was significantly lower than that in the younger patients (46.0% vs 57.6%; P = .018), possibly because of the higher incidence of deaths from other causes (26.8% vs 10.4%; P = .011) in the elderly. Conclusion Selected elderly HCC patients can undergo a hepatectomy safely and can benefit from long-term HCC control comparable with that of their younger counterparts.