OBJECTIVETo evaluate the risk factors for recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation (LT).

METHODSOne hundred and fifteen small HCC patients, who met Milan criteria (single<5 cm or showing up to three nodules, each of them<3 cm without major vascular invasion or distant metastasis) and underwent LT in our hospital from January 2007 to November 2013, were enrolled in the study. The risk factors for recurrence were analyzed by Cox regression and the influence of the Milan criteria and microvascular invasion (MVI) on the disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence of patients were assessed with survival analysis and ROC method.

RESULTSNinety-eight out of 115 small HCC patients were included for analysis, the 1-,3-, 5-year overall survival of patients was 91.8%, 80.6%, 79.6% and DFS was 87.8%, 74.5%, 73.5%, respectively. Survival analysis identified that MVI, macro-vascular invasion, exceeding the Milan criteria and pre-transplant down-staging treatment were related to tumor recurrence (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that MVI and exceeding the Milan criteria were two independent prognostic indicators for early recurrence of small HCC after LT. The 1-,3-,5-year DFS for 69 patients without MVI and 29 patients with MVI were 92.8%, 85.5%, 85.5% and 75.9%, 55.2%, 48.3%, respectively (P<0.01). The 1-,3-,5-year DFS for 84 patients meeting the Milan criteria and 14 exceeding the Milan criteria were 91.7%, 83.3%, 79.8% and 64.3%, 42.9%, 42.9%, respectively (P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONFor early HCC patients undergoing LT, the presence of MVI would predict tumor recurrence and can be an indicator for the adjuvant treatment or other salvage treatments.