Hepatic resection for elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review of more than 17,000 patients.

Background: With the aging population and increasing incidence of hepatic malignancies in elderly patients, establishing the safety and efficacy of hepatic resection for elderly patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is crucial. The present systematic review investigates postoperative morbidity, hospital mortality, median survival time, overall and disease-free survival in elderly patients with undergoing hepatic resection.

Methods: Some databases were systematically searched for prospective or retrospective studies to reveal the safety and efficacy of hepatic resection for elderly patients with primary HCC.

Results: Fifty studies involving 4,169 elderly patients and 13,158 young patients with HCC were included into analyses. Elderly group patients had similar rate of median postoperative morbidity (28.2% vs. 29.6%) but higher mortality (3.0% vs. 1.2%) with young group patients. Moreover, elderly group patients had slightly lower median survival time (55 vs. 58 months), 5-years overall survival (51% vs. 56%) and 5-years disease-free survival (27% vs. 28%) than young group patients. There was an upward trend in 5-years overall and disease-free survival in either elderly or young group.

Conclusion: Though old age may increase the risk of hospital mortality for patients with HCC after hepatic resection, elderly patients can obtain acceptable long-term prognoses from hepatic resection.