Fatty liver decreases the risk of liver metastasis in patients with breast cancer: a two-center cohort study

Abstract

Background

The influence of hepatic steatosis (HS) on liver metastasis in patients with non-metastatic breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between HS and liver metastasis in non-metastatic BC patients.

Methods

Patients who underwent treatment for BC at two affiliated hospitals of Southern Medical University, between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015, were retrospectively reviewed. BC patients were divided into the study and control groups based on the presence of HS. The association between HS and liver metastasis was analyzed, adjusting for the confounding factors using Cox regression and propensity score case-match analysis.

Results

In total, 1230 female BC patients were included, and 372 (30.2%) patients were diagnosed with HS (at the time of diagnosis BC or before). The cumulative liver metastasis-free survival (MFS) rate was significantly higher in the study group than in the control group (hazard ratio 0.61; 95% confidence interval 0.40–0.94; P = 0.024). On multivariate analysis, HS was an independent protective factor for local liver metastasis (HR 0.55; 0.35–0.86; P = 0.008). After one-to-one matching of the study group (344) with the control group (344), liver MFS remained significantly better in the study group (HR 0.42; 0.26–0.69; P = 0.001).

Conclusion

This study indicated that HS may serve as an independent factor to decrease liver metastasis in patients with BC. Additional prospective studies are necessary to validate this finding.

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