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Interferon‐α therapy after curative resection prevents early recurrence and improves survival in patients with hepatitis B virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma
Author(s) -
Qu LiShuai,
Jin Fei,
Huang XiaoWu,
Shen XiZhong
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.21741
Subject(s) - medicine , hepatocellular carcinoma , gastroenterology , hepatitis b virus , retrospective cohort study , confidence interval , surgery , multivariate analysis , hepatitis c virus , proportional hazards model , hepatectomy , interferon , hepatitis b , cohort , carcinoma , resection , virus , immunology
Background A retrospective cohort study was conducted to investigate the effect of interferon‐α (IFN‐α) therapy after curative resection on survival and recurrence in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)‐related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods Of 568 HBV‐related HCC patients who underwent curative resection, 101 patients received postoperative IFN‐α therapy (5 million units three times every week for 18 months). Clinicopathological factors were compared between patients with postoperative IFN‐α therapy or not. Risk factors for survival, early, and late recurrence (2 years as cut‐off) were studied. Results The median follow‐up time was 53.3 months. There was no significant difference in clinicopathological factors between the two groups. Patients with postoperative IFN‐α therapy had higher overall survival rates (hazards ratio (HR): 0.612, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.422–0.889, P = 0.010). No significant difference in disease‐free survival rates was detected between the two groups (HR: 0.786, 95% CI: 0.597–1.035, P = 0.086). Multivariate analysis revealed that postoperative IFN‐α therapy was an independent factor for overall survival (HR: 0.611, 95% CI: 0.421–0.887, P = 0.010) and significantly reduced early recurrence (HR: 0.562, 95% CI: 0.375–0.840, P = 0.005). Conclusions IFN‐α therapy after curative resection prevented early recurrence and improved overall survival of patients with HBV‐related HCC. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010;102:796–801. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.