Postoperative peg-interferon plus ribavirin is associated with reduced recurrence of hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently recurs after surgical resection. This population-based research aimed to investigate the association between postoperative antiviral treatment and risk of recurrent HCC in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. By analyzing the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, we initially screened a total of 100,938 patients diagnosed with HCC for the first time between October 2003 and December 2010. Among 2,237 antiviral-naïve HCV-infected patients with curatively resected HCC, there were 213 patients receiving antiviral treatment with pegylated interferon plus ribavirin for 16 weeks or more after surgery (treated cohort). These treated patients were matched 1:4 with 852 controls who were never treated for HCV infection (untreated cohort) by age, gender, cirrhosis, and the elapsed time between surgery and antiviral therapy. Cumulative incidences of and hazard ratios for recurrent HCC were calculated after adjusting for competing mortality. The recurrence rate of HCC was significantly lower in the treated than untreated cohort, with 52.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 42.0-62.2%) and 63.9% (95% CI, 58.9-68.8%) after 5 years of follow-up, respectively (P = 0.001). The number needed to treat for one fewer recurrent HCC at 5 years was 8. The association between postoperative antiviral treatment and risk of recurrent HCC was independent of adjustment for multiple covariates, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.64 (95% CI, 0.50-0.83). Stratified analyses revealed that the attenuation in recurrence risk was greater in patients younger than 60 years and those without cirrhosis or diabetes. Conclusion: Postoperative pegylated interferon plus ribavirin is associated with reduced recurrence of HCC in patients with HCV infection. Age, liver cirrhosis, and diabetes mellitus appear to modify this association.