Table I.

Baseline information.

Group	Control group (n=50)	Treatment group (n=40)	t/χ2	P-value
Male/female	28/22	23/17	0.020	0.887
Age (years)	53.6±12.4	55.7±13.6	0.127	0.763
Maximum tumor diameter (cm)	2.5±1.2	2.6±1.4	0.223	0.635
No. of tumors	1.5±0.5	1.4±0.3	0.152	0.732
AFP (µg/l)	562.4±56.7	594.7±62.3	0.327	0.649
ALT (U/l)	65.7±12.3	64.8±13.5	0.217	0.658
Overall bilirubin (µmol/l)	19.2±4.3	21.3±4.5	0.232	0.612
Albumin (g/l)	42.5±3.6	41.7±3.8	0.128	0.745

AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; ALT, alanine aminotransferase.