Low Incidence of Lymph Node Metastasis After Resection of Hepatitis Virus-Related Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We determined the rates of initial lymph node metastasis following curative resection of mass-forming type-intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) in patients with and without hepatitis virus infection.

METHODS: We enrolled 87 patients between January 2000 and December 2013 with ICC without preoperative lymph node metastasis and without lymph node dissection. Patients included 32 who were seropositive for hepatitis B or C virus (virus group) and 55 who had no evidence of hepatitis virus infection (nonvirus group). Postsurgical outcomes and initial recurrence of the groups were compared, and we identified the risk factors for lymph node metastasis as initial recurrence.

RESULTS: Platelet counts and prothrombin activities were significantly lower in the virus group compared with those of the nonvirus group. The number of patients with chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis was significantly higher in the virus group compared with the nonvirus group as well as their respective rates of recurrence-free survival. One patient (3%) in the virus group and 14 patients (25%) in the nonvirus group had lymph node metastasis as initial recurrence (p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis revealed that the absence of hepatitis virus infection as an independent risk factor (p = 0.047).

CONCLUSION: Hepatitis virus-associated mass-forming-type ICC confers a low risk of lymph node metastasis as initial postoperative recurrence.