Long-term survival and prognosis for primary clear cell carcinoma of the liver after hepatectomy

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term survival and prognosis for primary clear cell carcinoma of the liver (PCCCL) of the liver after hepatectomy. Methods: Our study retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological data of 64 patients with PCCCL (PCCCL group) and 247 with nonclear cell hepatocellular carcinoma (NHCC group) after hepatectomy between January 1996 and December 2006. The overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival of the two groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic factors of survival were identified by multivariate analysis. Results: The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS (P=0.016) and disease-free survival (P<0.001) of the PCCCL group were significantly higher than that of the NHCC group. In mutivariate analysis, tumor size >5 cm, presence of portal vein tumor thrombosis and proportion of clear cells <= 70% were risk factors for OS of the PCCCL group. The prognosis of a subgroup with higher proportion of clear cells was markedly better than that of the subgroup with a lower proportion of clear cells. Conclusion: Our results suggested that the prognosis of patients with PCCCL was better than that of the patients with NHCC. The higher the proportion of clear cells, the better the prognosis.