Clinico-histopathological analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma invading the biliary tract

Since hepatocellular carcinoma can rarely invade directly to intrahepatic bile duct and form tumor thrombosis, disease mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, we evaluated its prognostic factors based on 5-year survival rate. The prognosis of 28 cases after surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma invading to biliary tract was retrospectively evaluated. Statistical analysis showed that four factors demonstrated higher risk ratios: a) non-carrier of hepatitis B or C virus, b) 5 cm or larger tumor size, c) the absence of fibrous capsule and d) poorly differentiated tumor. However, there was no statistical difference in outcome when different surgical procedures performed. These results demonstrated that these four factors are important for postoperative outcome. Interestingly, it suggested that extra hepatic bile duct resection is not necessary for the complete removal of rare this tumor.