Improved Survival in HCC After Transplantation Policy Change

Five-year HCC survival rates increased from 13% to 22% after a 2003 policy accounted for tumor burden in assigning transplantation priority.

In 2003, patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) began receiving Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) exception points if they met Milan criteria for limited tumor burden. After the implementation of this policy, the rates of liver transplantation in patients with HCC markedly increased. But did patient survival improve?

To find out, investigators used data from the large, U.S.–population-based Surveillance and Epidemiology End Results (SEER) cancer registry to compare 5-year survival rates between the pre–MELD exception era (1998–2003) and the post–MELD exception era (2004–2010) in patients with HCC.

The study cohort comprised 60,772 patients with HCC. Compared with patients in the pre–MELD exception era (15,541 patients), patients …

Reviewing Author

Atif Zaman, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Atif Zaman, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Improved Survival in HCC After Transplantation Policy Change

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Reviewing Author