Impact of margin status on long-term results of liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: single-center time-to-recurrence analysis

Occult metastasis from the initial tumor and a de novo second primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were recognized as the main causes for the onset of early and late HCC recurrence, after liver resection (LR). This study aims to compare the time to recurrence after LR for HCC in which a margin ≤ 1 mm or > 1 mm was achieved. A single-center retrospective study involving 256 patients was conducted from June 2005 to June 2019. HCC patients resected with a radical surgical approach were investigated and stratified into groups A (resection margins ≤ 1 mm) and B (> 1 mm), as measured on final pathologic assessment. Kaplan–Meier estimators were used to estimate the probability of recurrenc…