# Very Early Recurrence Following Liver Resection for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma: Is It Predictable by Clinical Preoperative Factors?

## TL;DR

This study finds that pre-surgery clinical factors cannot reliably predict early recurrence in liver cancer patients, suggesting a need for better diagnostic methods.

## Contribution

The study shows that preoperative clinical factors alone cannot accurately predict very early recurrence in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients.

## Key findings

- Very early recurrence occurred in 20.5% of patients after liver resection for ICC.
- Preoperative clinical factors failed to identify patients at high risk for very early recurrence.
- Patients with very early recurrence had significantly worse 5-year survival rates (0% vs. 48.7%).

## Abstract

Approximately one‐quarter of patients undergoing resection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) experience very early recurrence (within 6 months after liver resection), which is associated with a poor prognosis. Identifying factors associated with very early recurrence may help optimize patient selection for surgery and avoid futile, high‐risk hepatectomies. The aim of this study was to assess whether preoperative clinical factors alone can reliably predict very early recurrence following curative liver resection for ICC.

A retrospective analysis was conducted on 83 patients who underwent liver resection between 2010 and 2020.

The 5‐year overall survival (OS) rate for the entire cohort was 51.4%. Recurrence occurred in 54 patients (65.1%), with 17 (20.5%) experiencing very early recurrence. The 5‐year OS for patients with very early recurrence was significantly lower than for those without it (0% vs. 48.7%, respectively; p = 0.013). Preoperative clinical prognostic factors failed to identify patients at high risk of very early recurrence, which occurred in 21% of patients classified as low risk.

Preoperative clinical factors alone are insufficient for accurate risk stratification. Integrating clinicopathological data with molecular classifications of ICC is urgently needed to enable a more personalized oncological approach for these patients.