Efficacy and Safety of Surgical Resection in Elderly Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background/Aims: With increased life expectancy, the management of elderly hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients became a crucial issue, yet it is still challenging due to comorbidities and high surgical risks. While surgical resection is considered as primary treatment for eligible HCC patients, systematic evidence on its outcomes in elderly patients remains scarce. In this review, we aimed to analyze the efficacy and safety outcomes of surgical resection in elderly HCC patients. Methods: The studies included in this meta-analysis were selected from Ovid-MEDLINE, OvidEmbase, CENTRAL, KoreaMed, KMbase, and KISS databases following a predefined protocol. Efficacy outcomes included overall survival and disease-free survival, while the safety outcomes included postoperative mortality and complications. Results: Patients in the elderly group (>= 65 years) who underwent surgery exhibited non-inferior overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.74) and diseasefree survival (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.08) compared to the non-elderly group. Overall postoperative mortality exhibited no statistical difference (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95% CI, 0.87 to 1.31), but 30-day, 90-day, and in-hospital mortality were higher in the elderly group. The incidence of overall complications was higher in the elderly group (OR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.22 to 1.69). Sensitivity analysis for the super elderly group (>= 80 years) showed significantly higher in-hospital mortality compared to the non-super elderly group (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.16 to 5.45). Conclusions: The efficacy outcome of surgical resection in the elderly HCC patients was not worse than that in the non-elderly HCC patients, while in-hospital mortality and complications rates were higher. Therefore, surgical resection should be purposefully considered in the elderly population, with careful candidate selection. (Gut Liver 2024;18:695-708)