FIGURE 1.

Schematic of the matching process. Cohort 1 included patients who developed hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatitis C virus eradication; cohort 2 included patients without hepatocellular carcinoma development after hepatitis C virus eradication; cohort 3 included patients who developed hepatocellular carcinoma without hepatitis C virus eradication; and cohort 4 included patients without hepatocellular carcinoma development or hepatitis C virus eradication. The first step in the matching process was to match age, gender, and platelet counts between hepatocellular carcinoma cases and controls after hepatitis C virus eradication. The second step was to match age, gender, platelet counts, tumor number, and tumor diameter between hepatocellular carcinoma cases after hepatitis C virus eradication and those without hepatitis C virus eradication. The third step was to match age, gender, and platelet counts between hepatocellular carcinoma cases and controls without hepatitis C virus eradication. HCC = hepatocellular carcinoma, HCV = hepatitis C virus, SVR = sustained viral response.