Natural History of T1N0M0 Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Large-Scale Study in the United States

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) prognosis depends on clinicopathological features in addition to the treatment provided. We aimed to assess the natural history of TNM stage I HCC tumors which received different treatment over a period of 20 years. Methods: Between 1992 and 2011, a total of 397 stage I HCC patients were included. Detailed information was retrieved from MD Anderson Cancer Center patients' medical records. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate patients' overall survival (OS). Cox regression analysis was used to calculate the estimated hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval of different prognostic factors. Results: Out of 397 patients, 67.5% were males, 42.8% had hepatitis-related HCC, and 59.7% had underlying cirrhosis. After adjustment for confounding factors, we found that all therapeutic modalities were associated with a significant mortality rate reduction with an OS of 63, 42.03, 34.3, and 22.1 months among patients treated with surgery, ablation, local, and systemic therapy, respectively. A restricted analysis of cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients showed that ablative and local therapy were significantly associated with a longer OS compared to systemic therapy. Conclusion: TNM stage I HCC patients have a favorable prognosis regardless of the type of treatment. Notably, ablative and local therapy significantly improved OS compared to systemic therapy.