Table 1.
Patients’ clinical characteristics.
| Characteristics | VETC-positive (n=40) | VETC-negative (n=46) | P Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean age (years) * | 53 ± 9 | 52 ± 9 | 0.645 |
| Gender | 0.775 | ||
| Men | 33 (82.5) | 39 (84.8) | |
| Women | 7 (17.5) | 7 (15.2) | |
| HBV or/and HCV infection | 0.919 | ||
| Yes | 36 (90.0) | 40 (87.0) | |
| No | 4 (10.0) | 6 (13.0) | |
| Cirrhosis | 0.147 | ||
| Yes | 38 (95.0) | 38 (82.6) | |
| No | 2 (5.0) | 8 (17.4) | |
| No. of lesions | 0.567 | ||
| 1 | 34 (85.0) | 41 (89.1) | |
| ≥ 2 | 6 (15.0) | 5 (10.9) | |
| Serum AFP | 0.582 | ||
| >100 ng/mL | 22 (55.0) | 28 (60.9) | |
| ≤100 ng/mL | 18 (45.0) | 18 (39.1) | |
| BCLC stage | 0.476 | ||
| 0 or A | 24 (60.0) | 31 (67.4) | |
| B or C | 16 (40.0) | 15 (32.6) |
Excepted where indicated, data are numbers of patients with percentages in parentheses. *Data are means ± deviation. The age is compared by using independent sample t test. HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCV, hepatitis C virus; AFP, α-fetoprotein; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; VETC, vessels encapsulating tumor clusters.