Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the patients transplanted for HCC beyond Milan criteria with versus without recurrence post-transplant

Preoperative factors

 Mean age (range), y

64 (58–71)

55 (46–61)

0.009

 Sex, no. of men (%)

4 (100)

6 (85.7)

1.000

 Race, n (%)

0.730

  Caucasian

0

1

  Asian

3

5

  Black

  Hispanic

  Native American

  Other/unreported

1

1

 Clinical CPT score before transplant, n (%)

0.491

  A

4

5

  B

0

2

  C

0

0

 Clinical MELD score at transplant, median (range)

9 (8–9)

9 (8–13)

0.323

 Bridging/downstaging LRT

0.509

  1. SIRT

0

0

  2. RFA

3

2

  3. TACE

0

3

  4. PEIT

1

1

  5. Combined

0

0

 AFP, median (range), at the time of transplant (μmol/L)

3 (3–48)

68 (5–20,303)

0.453

 Waiting list time (time to LT), median (range), months

4 (2–5)

5 (2–7)

0.407

Intraoperative factors

 Cold ischemia time, median (range), minutes

327 (301–470)

421 (275–761)

0.212

 Warm ischemia time, median (range), minutes

44 (42–55)

44 (37–53)

0.414

 Estimated blood loss, median (range), mL

1070 (230–2100)

1500 (1000–2800)

0.253

Pathologic factors

 Weight of explanted liver, median (range), (g)

766 (750–1650)

1005 (936–1059)

0.804

 Largest tumor diameter (cm), mean ± SD (range)

3.5 ± 0.6

4.6 ± 1.8

0.156

 Number of lesions on explant, median (range)

5 (5–9)

7 (1–20)

0.323

 Capsular invasion (yes), n (%)

0

3 (43%)

0.236

 Satellite nodules, (yes) (%)

0

2 (29%)

0.491

 HCC histologic grade

1.000

  Moderately differentiated

4 (100%)

6 (86%)

  Well-differentiated

0

1 (14%)

 Presence of microvascular invasion on the explant (%)

1 (25%)

4 (57%)

0.546

 Major vessel invasion

0

1 (14%)

1.000

 Bile duct invasion

0

0

1.000

 Portal vein invasion

0

0

1.000

HCC-related outcome

 Vital status

0.109

 Alive

2

0

 Dead

2

7

 Overall survival, (years)

6 (0–11)

3 (1.2–7.5)

0.261

 Time to recurrence, (months)

N/A

12 (3–24)