Relief of symptoms and quality of life after conservative versus surgical treatment of benign liver tumors (CONSULT): a retrospective propensity score matched study

Abstract

Background: Surgery can be considered for selected patients with benign liver tumours (BLT). The aim of this study was to compare symptoms and quality of life (QoL) after conservative and surgical management of BLT.

Methods: In this dual-site cross-sectional retrospective study, adult patients with BLT diagnosed between 2000 and 2019 completed EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires on current symptoms and symptoms at diagnosis. Summary scores (SumScores) and QoL scores at follow-up were compared between surgically and conservatively treated patients by matched t-tests. Propensity score matching attempted to reduce confounding. Higher scores indicate less symptoms and higher QoL.

Results: Fifty surgically (22.6%) and 171 (77.4%) conservatively treated patients were included at median 95 (IQR:66-120) and 91 (IQR:52-129) months, respectively. Most surgically treated patients reported stable, improved or disappeared symptoms (87%) and would undergo surgery again (94%). After propensity score matching, surgical patients had higher SumScores (mean difference 9.2, 95%CI:1.0-17.4, p = 0.028) but not higher QoL scores (p = 0.331) at follow-up than conservatively treated counterparts (31 patients in both groups).

Discussion: Patients who had undergone surgery often reported they would undergo surgery again. Moreover, they had less symptoms than conservatively managed patients while they were propensity score matched on relevant variables, including baseline symptoms.