Clinical characteristics and survival outcomes of super-elderly hepatocellular carcinoma patients not indicated for surgical resection

Abstract

Aim: Considering the dramatic increase in average life expectancy during the 20th century throughout the world, the management of elderly patients with cancer has become a global issue. We herein investigated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of super-elderly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients over 80years old not indicated for surgical resection. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 206 newly diagnosed HCC patients. The patients were divided into two groups according to their age at inclusion; a super-elderly group (n=37, ≥80years) and a younger group (n=169, <80years). We compared the clinical characteristics, overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates among the two groups. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with the OS and DSS. Results: The proportion of women was higher in the super-elderly group than in the younger group (P=0.017). There were no significant differences in the OS (P=0.171) or DSS (P=0.176) between the two groups. The multivariate analysis revealed that only the Cancer Liver Italian Program score (hazard ratio [HR], 2.972; P<0.0001; HR, 3.694; P<0.0001) was independently associated with the OS and DSS. Age was not found to be associated with the OS or DSS according to either the univariate or multivariate analysis. Conclusion: There were no significant differences in the OS and DSS rates among the super-elderly HCC patients and younger HCC patients not indicated for surgical resection.