Hospital Volume and Textbook Outcomes in Minimally Invasive Hepatectomy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hospital volume affects outcomes of patients who underwent resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We sought to assess the impact of minimally invasive hepatectomy (MIH) volume on short- and long-term outcomes among patients with HCC. Methods: Patients who underwent MIH for HCC from 2010 to 2018 were identified from the National Cancer Database. Multivariable modeling with restricted cubic splines (RCS) was utilized to identify the MIH hospital volume threshold. Textbook outcome (TO) was defined as no conversion to open resection, negative margins after resection (R0), no extended length-of-stay, no readmission, and no 90-day mortality. Results: Among 3268 patients who underwent MIH for HCC, median age was 65.0 (IQR 59.0–72.0) and the majority was male (n = 2308, 70.6%). MIH hospital volume ranged from 1 to 87 cases, with a median of 13 (IQR 7–23). Overall, 2151 (60.9%) patients achieved TO after resection. While particularly high rates of achievement were found for no 90-day mortality (n = 3106, 95.0%), no readmission (n = 3153, 96.5%), and R0 resection (n = 3,017, 92.3%), other TO components including no conversion to open (n = 2778, 85.0%) and no prolonged LOS (n = 2584, 79.1%) were achieved less frequently. Patients treated at high-volume centers (≥50 MIH cases) were more likely to experience TO (high volume centers, n = 334, 68.7% vs. low volume centers, n = 1656, 59.5%, p < 0.001) and better long-term survival (5-year OS; high volume centers, 64.7% vs. low volume centers, 54.6%, p < 0.001). Conclusions: MIH hospital volume was associated with a higher likelihood of achieving TO and improved long-term survival among patients undergoing resection of HCC.