Table 2.

Association of serum endocan levels with clinical variables in HCC patients (n = 64).

Variable	Category	Number of patients	Median serum endocan	P-value*
			(ng/mL)
Age (years)	< 70	29	3.97	0.642
	≥ 70	35	3.59
Gender	Female	23	3.63	0.928
	Male	41	3.79
Etiology of liver disease	Non-viral	14	4.05	0.620
	Viral	50	3.65
Child-Pugh grade	A	43	3.38	0.015
	B/C	21	5.48
Maximal tumor size (cm)	< 3	33	4.54	0.809
	≥ 3	31	3.59
Number of tumors	1-3	54	3.46	0.034
	≥ 4	10	4.94
Vascularity of HCC	Hypovascular	6	2.05	0.144
	Hypervascular	58	3.88
Vascular invasion of HCC	Absent	53	3.38	0.043
	Present	11	4.76
Extrahepatic spread	Absent	59	3.63	0.074
	Present	5	6.74
Tumor stage	I/II	41	3.38	0.240
	III/IV	23	3.97

HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma.

* Mann-Whitney U-test.