Presence of microscopic vascular invasion is not associated with overall or recurrent-free survival in patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma ≤ 2 cm who underwent liver resection

Purpose: To determine the impact of microvascular invasion (MVI) on outcome in patients with solitary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of ≤ 2 cm undergoing liver resection (LR).
Methods: This retrospective study enrolled consecutive patients between 2007–2019 with newly diagnosed solitary HCC of ≤ 2 cm who were undergoing LR at our institution. Overall survival (OS) and recurrent-free survival (RFS) were compared between patients with or without MVI.
Results: Of the 229 patients included in this study, 71 had MVI. The median follow-up period was 28.8 months (interquartile range: 13.5–70.1). Although the 90-day mortality rate was 0, 18 deaths occurred during the study, and the 5-year survival rate was 87.1%. Tumor recurrence occurred in 45 cases, and 5-year RFS was 71.9%. The presence or absence of MVI did not significantly affect the OS and RFS rates (log rank test, p = 0.10 and 0.38, respectively). In univariate and multivariate analysis, the presence of MVI was not associated with OS and RFS.
Conclusion: The presence of MVI was not associated with OS and RFS in patients with solitary HCC ≤ 2 cm who underwent LR in this cohort.