The summaries are free for public
use. The Chronic Liver Disease
Foundation will continue to add and
archive summaries of articles deemed
relevant to CLDF by the Board of
Trustees and its Advisors.
Abstract Details
Improved survival and higher rates of surgical resection associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in children as compared to young adults
Int J Cancer. 2022 Dec 15;151(12):2206-2214. doi: 10.1002/ijc.34215. Epub 2022 Aug 11.
1Division of Pediatric Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
2Department of General Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
3School of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
4Division of Abdominal Transplantation, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
Abstract
Hepatocellular adenocarcinoma (HCC) is the second most common primary hepatic malignancy in children with a 5-year overall survival of 30%. Few studies have examined the similarities and differences between pediatric and adult HCC. This article aims to examine the relationship between tumor characteristics, treatments and outcomes in pediatric and adult patients with HCC. The 2019 National Cancer Database was queried for patients with HCC. Patients were stratified by age: pediatric <21 years (n = 214) and young adults 21 to 40 (n = 1102). Descriptive statistics and chi square were performed. The mean age at diagnosis was 15.5 years (SD 5.6) in the pediatric and 33 years (5.3) in the adult group. Children had a comparable rate of metastasis (30% vs 28%, P = .47) and increased fibrolamellar histology (32% vs 9%). Surgical resection was more common in children compared to adults (74% vs 62%, P < .001), children also had more lymph nodes examined (39% vs 19%, P < .001), positive lymph nodes (35% vs 17%, P = .02) and surgical resection when metastasis were present at diagnosis (46% vs 18%, P < .001). The 1-, 3- and 5-year overall survival was higher for pediatric patients than adults (81%, 65%, 55%, vs 70%, 54%, 48%). Despite higher prevalence of fibrolamellar histology, greater number of positive lymph nodes and comparable rates of metastasis at diagnosis, children with HCC have improved overall survival compared to adults. Age did not significantly contribute to survivorship, so it is likely that the more aggressive surgical approach contributed to the improved overall survival in pediatric patients.