Is Obesity a Risk Factor for Recurrence in HCC Patients Who Undergo Liver Transplantation?

Objectives: It is known that obesity is associated with increased complications and early recurrence after cancer surgery. This may also be the case in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who treated with liver transplantation (LT).
Methods: This retrospective observational study aimed to investigate the potential impact of pre-transplant body mass index (BMI) on tumor recurrence and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients who underwent LT for HCC. The study analyzed data from 423 HCC patients who underwent LT at the Inonu University Liver Transplant Institute between 2006 and 2023.
Results: The median age of the 423 patients included in the study was 56 years (range: 18-72), with 367 (86.8%) of them being male. The median BMI was 26 kg/m2 (range: 16.4-46.9). The recurrence rates were 24.3% in the non-obese group, 18.3% in the overweight group, and 16.7% in the obese group (p=0.239). The mean DFS durations were 8.4 years ± 0.6 in the non-obese group, 8.7 years ± 0.5 in the overweight group, and 9.7 years ± 0.9 in the obese group (p>0.05).
Conclusion: This study suggests that obesity should not be considered a predictive factor for HCC recurrence when selecting candidates for liver transplantation.