Table 1.
Main characteristics of all included studies
| Study/Year | Country | Included time | No. (M/F) | Age (Years) | Survival type | Follow-up (Months) | Cutoff value | Cutoff selection | Treatment methods | Stage | MVA | NOS score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huang HH, et al 201011 | China | 1990–2002 | 76 (64/12) | Median 57 | OS;RFS | Median 77.0±50.7 | 0.47 | ROC analysis | With surgery | Child-Pugh A/B | OS-Yes, RFS-No | 6 |
| Kao W, et al 201112 | China | 2002–2007 | 190 (121/69) | Mean 67.4 | OS;RFS | Median 30.7±17.5 | 1 | NA | No surgery | Child-Puge A/B | Yes | 7 |
| Shen SL, et al 201413 | China | 2006–2009 | 332 (292/40) | Mean 49.82 | OS;DFS | 1-80 | 0.62 | ROC analysis | With surgery | Edmonson stage: I–II–III–IV | Yes | 8 |
| Pang Q-1, et al 201514 | China | 2002–2012 | 172 (139/33) | Mean 53.52 | OS;DFS | Median 46 | 1.23 | ROC analysis | With surgery | No extrahepatic spread | Yes | 7 |
| Pang Q-2, et al 201514 | China | 2002–2012 | 191 (159/32) | Mean 54.12 | OS;DFS | Median 40 | 1.79 | ROC analysis | No surgery | No extrahepatic spread | Yes | 7 |
| Pang Q, et al 201515 | China | 2002–2012 | 172 (139/33) | Mean 53.5 | RFS | Median 52 | 1.94 | ROC analysis | With surgery | No extrahepatic spread | Yes | 6 |
| Okamura Y, et al 201616 | Japan | 2002–2014 | 140 (115/25) | Median 71 | OS;RFS | Median 38.9 | 0.544 | ROC analysis | With surgery | UICC: I–II–III | No | 7 |
| Chuang HA, et al 201617 | Korea | 2005–2013 | 98 (70/28) | Mean 60.5 | RFS | Median 40 | 1.38 | ROC analysis | No surgery | Modified UICC: I–II–III | Yes | 6 |
| Ji F, et al 201618 | China | 2006–2009 | 321 (285/36) | Mean 51 | OS;DFS | 1-96 | 1.68 | ROC analysis | With surgery | TNM stage: I–II–III | Yes | 8 |
| Liu Y, et al 201619 | China | 2004–2011 | 223 (189/34) | Median 54 | RFS | Median 26.1 | 0.23 | ROC analysis | With surgery | TNM stage: I–II–III–IV | Yes | 7 |
| Peng W, et al 201620 | China | 2007–2013 | 244 (213/31) | Mean 50 | OS;RFS | 1-80 | 1 | ROC analysis | With surgery | No extrahepatic metastasis | Yes | 8 |
| Teng W, et al 201721 | China | 2010–2013 | 153 (82/71) | Median 64.1 | OS;RFS | NA | 2 | NA | No surgery | BCLC stage:0/A/B/C | Yes | 7 |
| Toyoda H, et al 201722 | Japan | 1997–2016 | 1669 (1181/488) | Mean 68.7 | OS;RFS | 1-240 | 1.2 | ROC analysis | With surgery | BCLC stage:0/A/B/C/D | OS-Yes, RFS-No | 8 |
| Sarkar J, et al 201723 | USA | 1993–2014 | 94 (71/23) | Mean 62 | OS | >60 | 0.5 | NA | Mixed | NA | No | 6 |
| Yang HJ, et al 201724 | China | 2004–2010 | 661 (574/87) | NA | OS;DFS | 1-60 | 0.25 | ROC analysis | With surgery | BCLC stage:0/A/B/C | Yes | 8 |
| Tang T-1, et al 201825 | China | 2005–2013 | 158 (136/22) | NA | OS | 1-40 | 0.4 | X-tile plots | No surgery | BCLC stage:B | No | 7 |
| Tang T-2, et al 201825 | China | 2005–2014 | 157 (135/22) | NA | OS | 1-35 | 0.4 | X-tile plots | No surgery | BCLC stage:B | No | 7 |
Note: All the studies were retrospective.
Abbreviations: BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; DFS, disease-free survival; MVA, multivariate analysis; NA, not available; NOS, Newcastle–Ottawa quality assessment scale; OS, overall survival; RFS, recurrence-free survival; ROC, receiver operating characteristic curve; TNM, tumor-node-metastasis; UICC, Union for International Cancer Control.