Prognostic role of Child-Pugh score 5 and 6 in hepatocellular carcinoma patients who underwent curative hepatic resection

Abstract

Background: It is unclear whether Child-Pugh score discriminates a prognosis of the Child-Pugh A patients who underwent hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Methods: Between April 2000 and March 2011, 361 patients with Child-Pugh A who underwent curative hepatectomy were divided into 2 groups: Child-Pugh score 5 points group (CPS5) and Child-Pugh score 6 points group (CPS6); both CPS5 (n = 274) and CPS6 (n = 87) groups were compared.

Results: Overall survival rates (1/2/5 years of the CPS5 and CPS6 groups were 90.9%/82.5%/62.4% and 80.6%/68.0%/47.6%, respectively) and disease-free survival rates (67.6%/51.8%/30.1% and 36.9%/16.0%/5.9%, respectively) showed that the CPS5 group was significantly better than the CPS6 group. Multivariate analysis revealed that Child-Pugh score at overall survival (P = .0125) and disease-free survival (P = .0103) was a significant prognostic factor.

Conclusions: The overall survival and disease-free survival in Child-Pugh A showed quite a difference between the CPS5 and CPS6 groups. However, CPS5 and CPS6 may be a useful prognostic marker of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with hepatic resection.

Keywords: Child-Pugh score; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Milan criteria; Prognosis.