Table 3.

The influence of patient and lesion characteristics on a final malignant diagnosis

Variable	Number/number cancers/total	Univariate	Multivariate	P-value
Male	9 / 14 / 121	RR 2.67, CI 1.60–3.79	RR 2.70, CI 1.69–3.51	0.046
Female	5 / 14 / 121	RR 1.03, CI 0.96–1.19	RR 1.05, CI 0.96–1.11	NS
Age > 45 years	11 / 14 / 121	RR 3.07, CI 2.63–3.79	RR 3.15, CI 2.71–3.89	< 0.01
Radiological signs of cirrhosis	4 / 14 / 121	RR 0.87, CI 0.56–0.93	RR 0.93, CI 0.57–0.99	NS
Tumour diameter > 4 cm	12 /14 / 121	RR 3.21, CI 2.77–3.89	RR 3.35, CI 3.13–4.01	< 0.009
Hypovascular	5 / 40 / 121	RR 0.31, CI 0.26–0.73	RR 0.37, CI 0.29–0.86	NS
Hypervascular	9 / 81 / 121	RR 0.44, CI 0.34–0.69	RR 0.47, CI 0.35–0.71	NS
Elevated CEA	0 / 14 / 121	RR 0	RR 0	NS
Late enhancement on MRI	5 / 14 / 121	RR 3.50, CI 2.93–4.40	RR 4.15, CI 3.01–4.79	<0.043
Elevated Ca19-9	2 / 14 / 121	RR 0.39, CI 0.19–0.64	RR 0.44, CI 0.22–0.68	NS
Elevated AFP	2 / 14 / 121	RR 0.37, CI 0.18–0.66	RR 0.39, CI 0.20–0.59	NS

CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; MRI, magnetic resonace imaging; AFP, α-fetoprotein; RR, relative risk; CI, 95% confidence interval; NS, not statistically significant.