Background
Methods
Ethical approval
Patient selection
Preoperative and postoperative tumor assessment
Measurement of serum AFP
Follow up
Statistical analysis
Results
Patients’ characteristics
Variable | AFP negative | AFP low | AFP high |
---|---|---|---|
Age at diagnosis, years, mean ± SD | 52.5 ± 8.6 | 52.1 ± 7.8 | 52.7 ± 6.9 |
Gender, male/female | 34/7 | 20/8 | 34/5 |
HBsAg-positive | 37 | 27 | 38 |
Family history of liver cancer | 6 | 3 | 8 |
Family history of HBV infection | 11 | 7 | 16 |
No family history of liver disease | 24 | 18 | 15 |
Tumor number =1 | 35 | 21 | 28 |
Tumor number ≥2 | 6 | 7 | 11 |
Tumor diameter, cm, mean ± SD | 5.9 ± 6.9 | 5.2 ± 4.5 | 5.0 ± 3.9 |
Portal vein tumor thrombus | |||
No | 37 | 23 | 33 |
Yes | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Adjacent tissue invasion | |||
No | 39 | 24 | 34 |
Yes | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Lymph node invasion | |||
No | 39 | 24 | 37 |
Yes | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Cell differentiation* | |||
Well-differentiated | 14 | 1 | 1 |
Moderate | 24 | 25 | 33 |
Poor | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Microscopic invasion* | |||
No | 25 | 7 | 8 |
Yes | 16 | 21 | 31 |
Nerve invasion | |||
No | 39 | 25 | 39 |
Yes | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Lymph node metastasis | |||
No | 39 | 27 | 37 |
Yes | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Fibrosis | |||
0 to 4 points | 2 | 3 | 2 |
5 to 6 points | 39 | 25 | 37 |
Recurrence rate, n (%) | |||
1-year | 7 (17.1) | 6 (21.4) | 10 (25.6) |
2-year* | 8 (19.5) | 7 (25.0) | 18 (46.2) |
Survival rate, n (%) | |||
6-month | 38 (92.7) | 25 (89.3) | 33 (84.6) |
12-month | 35 (85.4) | 24 (85.7) | 28 (71.8) |
18-month* | 35 (85.4) | 22 (78.6) | 23 (59.0) |
24-month* | 33 (80.5) | 20 (71.4) | 21 (53.8) |
Preoperative clinicopathologic variables
Pathological features
Comparison content | Test statistic | AFP-negative versus AFP-low group | AFP-negative versus AFT-high group | AFP-low versus AFP-high group |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cell differentiation |
q
| 3.95 | 5.56 | 1.47 |
P
| <0.05 | <0.05 | >0.05 | |
Microscopic invasion |
q
| 4.76 | 5.89 | 0.61 |
P
| <0.05 | <0.05 | >0.05 | |
18-month survival rate |
q
| 1.03 | 3.74 | 2.36 |
P
| >0.05 | <0.05 | >0.05 | |
2-year survival rate |
q
| 0.92 | 3.57 | 2.31 |
P
| >0.05 | <0.05 | >0.05 | |
2-year recurrence rate |
q
| 0.45 | 3.32 | 2.47 |
P
| >0.05 | <0.05 | >0.05 |
Follow up
Multivariate analysis
Recurrence (P) | Overall survival (P) | |
---|---|---|
Age at diagnosis, years | 0.971 | 0.198 |
Gender, male versus female | 0.056 | 0.701 |
HBsAg, negative versus positive | 0.088 | 0.102 |
Family history of liver cancer, no versus yes | 0.442 | 0.322 |
Tumor number, 1 versus ≥ 2 | 0.030 | 0.150 |
Tumor diameter, <5 versus ≥ 5 cm* | 0.029 | 0.004 |
Fibrosis, 0 to 4 points versus 5 to 6 points | 0.717 | 0.837 |
AFP, ≤ 400 versus > 400 ng/mL* | 0.024 | 0.009 |
Recurrence | Overall survival | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
P
| HR (95% CI) |
P
| HR (95% CI) | |
Tumor diameter, <5 versus ≥ 5 cm | 0.039 | 3.787(1. 172 ~ 13.343) | 0.021 | 4.423(1.353 ~ 17.356) |
AFP, ≤ 400 versus >400 ng/mL | 0.044 | 2.153(1.121 ~ 10.354) | 0.035 | 3.875(1.207 ~ 15.573) |