AB004. Quality of life in patients who underwent liver resection: a single centre study

Background: Hepatic resection has evolved into a common surgical procedure for a wide range of benign and malignant indications. It has been widely accepted that long-term quality of life (QoL) has been used as a valuable outcome parameter in the success of surgical treatment. This retrospective study is aimed to evaluate postoperative QoL after resection of benign or malignant liver tumors.

Methods: A total of 52 patients who underwent liver resection were enrolled in the study. Post-operative outcomes were assessed and QoL were evaluated using the Quality of Life Assessment Forms (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary Version 4/FACT-Hep v4) prior to surgery, and during their follow up at 30 and 90 days following surgery.

Results: The quality of life assessment revealed an overall improvement of general health status after resection (from 129.30±22.96 pre-operatively to 146.63±20.52, P<0.001). Female gender was negatively associated with emotional well-being and overall QoL scores while tumor size >2 cm was associated with lower overall QoL score. The rate of serious complications (> grade 2) was 15% with no post-operative death.

Conclusions: Hepatic resection results in significant enhancement of QoL in patients with liver tumors. FACT-Hep questionnaire provides a reliable prognostic indicator in the overall survival for patients with who underwent liver resection.

Keywords: Hepatic resection; liver resection; quality of life assessment (QoL assessment)