Table 1.

Comparison of patient and tumor characteristics in the subgroups with and without microvascular invasion.

	No vascular invasion (n = 222)	Vascular invasion (n = 114)	p =
Male	174 (78%)	100 (88%)	0.037
Mean age at LT [years]	57 ± 1	56 ± 1	0.840
Era of transplantation			0.011
(i) Before 1997	47 (21%)	29 (25%)
(ii) 1997–2003	58 (26%)	44 (39%)
(iii) 2004 to 2008	117 (53%)	41 (36%)
Underlying liver disease			0.777
(i) Alcohol	57 (26%)	34 (30%)
(ii) HCV	81 (37%)	39 (34%)
(iii) HBV	36 (16%)	19 (17%)
(iv) Cryptogenic	35 (16%)	14 (12%)
(v) Others	13 (6%)	8 (7%)
Recipient blood group			0.958
(i) 0	58 (29%)	33 (30%)
(ii) A	110 (55%)	58 (52%)
(iii) B	22 (11%)	14 (13%)
Mean waiting time	142 ± 13	124 ± 15	0.120
Child Pugh stadium			0.809
(i) A	95 (43%)	44 (39%)
(ii) B	97 (44%)	51 (45%)
(iii) C	30 (14%)	19 (17%)
TACE before LT	60 (27%)	29 (25%)	0.888
Previous liver resection	23 (10%)	6 (5%)	0.163
Piggy back	71 (32%)	27 (24%)	0.263
Tumor biopsy			0.553
(i) Yes	46 (21%)	29 (25%)
(ii) No	147 (66%)	69 (61%)
(iii) Unknown	29 (13%)	16 (14%)
No blood transfusions (24 h)	28 (15%)	15 (15%)	0.561
Mechanical ventilation >24 h	11 (6%)	9 (9%)	0.255
Haemodialysis after LT	27 (12%)	16 (14%)	0.496
Number of tumor nodules			0.055
(i) ≤3	195 (88%)	91 (80%)
(ii) >3	27 (12%)	23 (20%)
Maximum tumor diameter			<0.001
(i) ≤5 cm	194 (87%)	79 (69%)
(ii) >5 cm	28 (13%)	35 (31%)
Mean max. diameter [cm]	3.1 ± 0.2	4.7 ± 0.3	0.005
Mean AFP [μg/l]	583 ± 241	3120 ± 1350	0.005
AFP category			0.023
(i) <20	115 (52%)	46 (40%)
(ii) 21–100	45 (20%)	15 (13%)
(iii) 101–1000	33 (15%)	25 (22%)
(iv) >1000	12 (5%)	14 (12%)
(v) Not determined	17 (8%)	14 (12%)
Tumor grading			<0.001
(i) G1	54 (24%)	7 (6%)
(ii) G2	121 (55%)	60 (53%)
(iii) G3	27 (12%)	13 (40%)
(iv) Gx	20 (9%)	1 (1%)