Table 3.
Sensitivity of α-fetoprotein-L3 and prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II according to the tumor characteristics in 38 hepatocellular carcinoma patients with α-fetoprotein < 20 ng/mL n (%)
| n | AFP-L3 | PIVKA-II | AFP-L3 and PIVKA-II combined | |
| (> 5%) | (> 40 AU/L) | (> 5%, > 40 AU/L) | ||
| Tumor stage (UICC) | ||||
| I | 11 | 7 (63.6) | 5 (45.5) | 9 (81.8) |
| II | 16 | 12 (75.0) | 9 (56.3) | 16 (100) |
| III | 9 | 6 (66.7) | 6 (66.7) | 8 (88.9) |
| IVa | 2 | 2 (100) | 2 (100) | 2 (100) |
| Tumor size | ||||
| < 2 cm | 15 | 7 (46.7) | 6 (40.0) | 13 (86.7) |
| 2-5 cm | 17 | 8 (47.1) | 11 (64.7) | 16 (94.1) |
| > 5 cm | 6 | 3 (50.0) | 5 (83.3) | 6 (100) |
| Tumor number | ||||
| Single | 24 | 16 (66.7) | 12 (50.0) | 22 (91.7) |
| Multiple | 14 | 11 (78.6) | 10 (71.4) | 13 (92.7) |
AFP: α-fetoprotein; PIVKA-II: Prothrombin induced by vitamin K absence-II; UICC: International Union Against Cancer; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma.