Ann Hepatobiliary Pancreat Surg.  2024 Nov;28(4):451-457. 10.14701/ahbps.24-078.

Impact of post-hepatectomy biliary leaks on long-term survival in different liver tumors: A single institute experience

• Ballal DS
• Patkar S
• Kunte A
• Sundaram S
• Shetty N
• Gala K
• Kulkarni S
• Goel M

• KMID: 2561577
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14701/ahbps.24-078

Abstract

Backgrounds/Aims
A postoperative biliary leak is one of the most morbid complications occurring after a liver resection, the longterm impact of which remains unknown.
Methods
Retrospective analysis of consecutive liver resections performed from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2021. Primary endpoint of disease-free survival (DFS) was compared between patients with and without a bile leak, stratifying for tumor type. Survival curves were plotted using Kaplan–Meier estimates, and differences between them were analyzed using the log–rank test.
Results
In toto, 862 patients were analyzed, and included 306 (35.5%) hepatocellular carcinomas, 212 (24.6%) metastatic colorectal cancers, and 111 (12.9%) cholangiocarcinomas (69 intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas, 42 hilar cholangiocarcinomas). Occurrence of a bile leak was associated with significantly poorer DFS only in patients with cholangiocarcinoma (median DFS 9.9 months vs. 24.9 months, p = 0.013), and further analysis was restricted to this cohort. A Cox regression performed for factors associated with DFS detriment in patients with cholangiocarcinoma showed that apart from node positivity (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.482, p = 0.033) and margin positivity (HR: 2.65, p = 0.021), development of a bile leak was independently associated with worsening DFS on both univariate and multiple regression analyses (HR: 1.896, p = 0.033).
Conclusions
Post-hepatectomy biliary leaks are associated with significantly poorer DFS only in patients with cholangiocarcinoma, but not in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or metastatic colorectal cancer. Methods to mitigate this survival detriment need to be explored.

Keyword

Cholangiocarcinoma; Post-hepatectomy bile leak; Long-term outcomes; Disease-free survival

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): (A) OS curves and (B) DFS curves; metastatic colorectal carcinoma (mCRC): (C) OS curves and (D) DFS curves. OS, overall survival; DFS, disease-free survival; PHBL, post-hepatectomy bile leak.

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  Fig. 2 (A) Disease-free survival (DFS) and (B) overall survival (OS) for cholangiocarcinoma patients. PHBL, post-hepatectomy bile leak.

Reference

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