Table 2.
Clinical characteristics of the three subtypes of primary liver cancer (2008–2018): milestone events in the liver cancer care pathway.
| Hepatocellular carcinoma | Cholangiocarcinoma | Other liver cancer | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route to diagnosis (2008–2016) | ||||||||
| Death Certificate Only | 11 | 0.4% | 6 | 0.4% | 6 | 0.8% | 23 | 0.4% |
| Emergency presentation | 999 | 34.1% | 823 | 48.8% | 322 | 43.1% | 2144 | 40.0% |
| GP referral | 917 | 31.3% | 330 | 19.5% | 190 | 25.4% | 1437 | 26.8% |
| Inpatient elective | 35 | 1.2% | 38 | 2.3% | 15 | 2.0% | 88 | 1.6% |
| Outpatient | 516 | 17.6% | 186 | 11.0% | 104 | 13.9% | 806 | 15.0% |
| Two-Week Wait (TWW) | 303 | 10.4% | 248 | 14.7% | 76 | 10.2% | 627 | 11.7% |
| Unknown/Missing | 146 | 5.0% | 57 | 3.4% | 34 | 4.6% | 237 | 4.4% |
| Stage at diagnosisa | ||||||||
| Stage I (Earliest) | 373 | 9.2% | 47 | 2.0% | 19 | 2.0% | 439 | 6.0% |
| Stage II | 404 | 9.9% | 72 | 3.1% | 22 | 2.3% | 498 | 6.8% |
| Stage III | 300 | 7.4% | 92 | 4.0% | 21 | 2.2% | 413 | 5.6% |
| Stage IV (Latest) | 497 | 12.2% | 741 | 31.9% | 145 | 15.3% | 1383 | 18.9% |
| Unknown stage | 2489 | 61.3% | 1371 | 59.0% | 738 | 78.1% | 4598 | 62.7% |
| Liver transplant | ||||||||
| No | 3928 | 96.7% | 2321 | 99.9% | 938 | 99.3% | 7187 | 98.0% |
| Yes | 135 | 3.3% | ≤5 | 0.1% | 7 | 0.7% | 144 | 2.0% |
| Liver resection | ||||||||
| No | 3831 | 94.3% | 2221 | 95.6% | 915 | 96.8% | 6967 | 95.0% |
| Yes | 232 | 5.7% | 102 | 4.4% | 30 | 3.2% | 364 | 5.0% |
| Liver ablation | ||||||||
| No | 3704 | 91.2% | 2299 | 99.0% | 907 | 96.0% | 6910 | 94.3% |
| Yes | 359 | 8.8% | 24 | 1.0% | 38 | 4.0% | 421 | 5.7% |
| Patients received curative treatmentsb | ||||||||
| No | 3386 | 83.3% | 2199 | 94.7% | 877 | 92.8% | 6462 | 88.1% |
| Yes | 677 | 16.7% | 124 | 5.3% | 68 | 7.2% | 869 | 11.9% |
| Interval from diagnosis to first curative treatment (median days, IQR) | 108 | (35, 248) | 54 | (0, 141) | 72 | (29.5, 159.5) | 93 | (23, 230) |
| Transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) | ||||||||
| No | 3246 | 79.9% | 2304 | 99.2% | 883 | 93.4% | 6433 | 87.8% |
| Yes | 817 | 20.1% | 19 | 0.8% | 62 | 6.6% | 898 | 12.2% |
| Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) | ||||||||
| No | 4039 | 99.4% | 2308 | 99.4% | 941 | 99.6% | 7288 | 99.4% |
| Yes | 24 | 0.6% | 15 | 0.6% | ≤5 | 0.4% | 43 | 0.6% |
| Patients received any of the above five treatments | ||||||||
| No | 2710 | 66.7% | 1791 | 77.1% | 714 | 75.6% | 5215 | 71.1% |
| Yes | 1353 | 33.3% | 532 | 22.9% | 231 | 24.4% | 2116 | 28.9% |
| Interval from diagnosis to any treatment (median days, IQR) | 72 | (36, 139) | 56 | (30, 103.5) | 57 | (30, 120) | 67 | (32, 130.5) |
| Patient's exit status | ||||||||
| Died (ONS record)c | 3309 | 81.4% | 2178 | 93.8% | 814 | 86.1% | 6301 | 86.0% |
| Left | 229 | 5.6% | 38 | 1.6% | 45 | 4.8% | 312 | 4.3% |
| Still registered with GP | 525 | 12.9% | 107 | 4.6% | 86 | 9.1% | 718 | 9.8% |
| Observed survival (95% CI) | Hepatocellular carcinoma | Cholangiocarcinoma | Other liver cancer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-year (Female) | 45.6% (42.3, 48.9) | 25.5% (23.0, 28.1) | 35.7% (30.7, 40.7) |
| 1-year (Male) | 49.1% (47.3, 50.8) | 29.4% (26.8, 32.1) | 43.0% (38.7, 47.2) |
| 5-year (Female) | 21.3% (18.6, 24.2) | 5.0% (3.8, 6.5) | 16.0% (12.3, 20.2) |
| 5-year (Male) | 21.0% (19.5, 22.5) | 8.6% (7.0, 10.4) | 19.3% (16.0, 22.9) |
| 10-year (Female) | 15.9% (13.1, 19.0) | 3.5% (2.3, 5.1) | 12.4% (8.9, 16.6) |
| 10-year (Male) | 14.1% (12.4, 15.8) | 5.5% (4.0, 7.3) | 12.9% (9.8, 16.4) |
Notes: In line with UK information governance recommendations, cells with counts ≤5 need to be suppressed in the tables to protect patient confidentiality.
a
Stage is based on the TNM staging system, where stage 1 is the earliest and stage 4 is the latest.
b
Curative treatments included liver transplant, liver resection, and liver ablation.
c
Death records were from 22 Jan 2008 to 30 June 2021.