TABLE 2.
Baseline patient characteristics in the included studies
| Author (reference), year | Patients included, n | Age, years | Male,% |
Etiology |
Characteristics of HCC |
Liver function |
Laboratory parameters |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HBV/HCV/other, n | Tumour lesions (solitary/multiple), n | AFP, ng/L | Child-Pugh class (A/B, n) | WBC count, ×109/L* | CRP, mg/L* | ||||
| Castells et al (16), 1995 | |||||||||
| Antibiotic arm | 37 | 60±9* | 86 | 26†/11 | 8/29 | 22/15‡ | 31/6 | 5.2±2.1 | NR |
| Control arm | 38 | 61±8* | 79 | 35†/3 | 4/34 | 17/11‡ | 30/8 | 4.8±2.1 | |
| Wang et al (19), 2005 | |||||||||
| Antibiotic arm | 31 | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Control arm | 29 | ||||||||
| Plentz et al (17), 2005 | |||||||||
| Antibiotic arm | 15 | 62.2§ | 87 | 3/4/8 | 6/9 | 996±1467* | 15/0 | 7.3±2.5 | 11.6±12.4 |
| Control arm | 15 | 65.2§ | 87 | 2/3/10 | 5/10 | 595±1134* | 15/0 | 6.8±2.3 | 7.6±7.9 |
| Shelgikar et al (18), 2009 | |||||||||
| Antibiotic arm | 31 | 56§ | 78 | 3/30/26 | NR | 18§ | NR | NR | NR |
| Control arm | 28 | ||||||||
*
Data presented as mean ± SD;
†
Hepatitis including hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV);
‡
Number of patients with serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level ≤100 ng/mL / >10 ng/mL;
§
Data presented as median. CRP C-reactive protein; HCC Hepatocellular carcinoma; NR Not reported; WBC White blood cell