Background: Hepatic resection is a potentially curative treatment for early hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC], but early recurrence after curative resection is associated with early death and a poorer prognosis.

Objective: To identify potential risk factors for early recurrence of HCC after hepatic resection.

Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent curative hepatic resection for HCC at our institute between January 2006 and December 2015 were reviewed retrospectively and risk factors for early recurrence were analyzed.

Results: Two hundred ninety one patients were enrolled in the present study, of whom 146 (50.1%) developed tumor recurrence. Seventy-five patients (51.3%) developed recurrence within one year of surgery (early recurrence group) and 71 (48.6%) developed recurrence more than one year after surgery (late recurrence group). Univariate analysis identified microvascular invasion [mVI] (hazard ratio [HR]; 2.163, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.089 to 4.298), stage II or higher (HR; 2.3691, 95% CI; 1.431 to 3.921), and tumor rupture (HR; 3.209, 95% CI; 1.369 to 7.521) as being associated with early recurrence of HCC. Among these risk factors, multivariate analysis only identified stage II or higher HCC (HR; 2.041, 95% CI; 1.131 to 3.684) as an independent risk factor for early recurrence.

Conclusion: Stage II or higher tumor is a risk factor for early recurrence following hepatic resection of HCC.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Liver neoplasms, Risk factors, Recurrence, Prognosis