Time-to-Interventional Failure as a New Surrogate Measure for Survival Outcomes after Resection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Purpose This study sought to investigate the clinical impact of repeated interventions for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to establish a new surrogate measure for survival: the time-to-interventional failure (TIF). Methods Based on a retrospective review of 1158 patients who underwent curative resection for HCC, the abilities of recurrence-free survival (RFS) and TIF, which was defined as the elapsed time from resection to unresectable/unablatable recurrence, to predict overall survival (OS) were compared. Results Within a median follow-up period of 84.9 months, 676 (59.0%) recurrence events occurred, 78.1% of which were resectable/ablatable recurrences. Of these, 99.1% of the patients underwent repeated treatments. TIF had a stronger correlation than RFS ( r = 0.921 vs. r = 0.631) in prediction of OS. Patients who underwent curative-intent treatment (i.e., resection or ablation) for recurrence showed significantly better survival outcomes compared with those who underwent non-curative treatment (e.g., TACE, chemotherapy) (median OS, 89.1 months vs. 55.0 months; P