Table 2.
Histopathologic characteristics of HCCs with and without irregular rim-like enhancement, based on the combined results of the two reviewers' classification
| Histopathologic features | (1) IRE-HCCs (n = 22, 26%) | (2) HCCs with intermediate enhancement patterns (n = 11, 13%) | (3) Non-IRE-HCCs (n = 51, 61%) | p value |
p value, post hoc* |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) vs. (2) | (2) vs. (3) | (1) vs. (3) | |||||
| Tumor pathology | |||||||
| Tumor diameter, cm | 3.4 (2.4–5.2) | 2.8 (2.4–4.3) | 3.2 (2.4–4.1) | 0.693 | |||
| Histologic differentiation | 0.041 | 0.999 | 0.999 | 0.047 | |||
| Grade I | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 8 (16) | ||||
| Grade II | 14 (64) | 9 (82) | 37 (73) | ||||
| Grade III or IV | 8 (36) | 2 (18) | 6 (12) | ||||
| Macrotrabecular pattern (% of tumor area) | 45 (5–90) | 80 (10–90) | 0 (0–5) | <0.001 | 0.999 | 0.003 | <0.001 |
| Macrotrabecular-massive type | 11 (50) | 6 (55) | 4 (8) | <0.001 | 0.999 | 0.003 | <0.001 |
| Capsule formation | 0.046 | 0.251 | 0.999 | 0.064 | |||
| Absent | 6 (27) | 2 (18) | 8 (16) | ||||
| Partial | 15 (68) | 5 (46) | 25 (49) | ||||
| Complete | 1 (5) | 4 (36) | 18 (35) | ||||
| Microvascular invasion | <0.001 | 0.006 | 0.999 | <0.001 | |||
| Absent | 2 (9) | 7 (64) | 33 (65) | ||||
| Present | 20 (91) | 4 (36) | 18 (35) | ||||
| Tumor microenvironmental factors | |||||||
| Microvascular density/mm2 | 246.5±107.5 | 271.9±171.0 | 426.5±138.7 | <0.001 | 0.999 | 0.006 | <0.001 |
| Microvascular pattern | |||||||
| Capillary-like (% of tumor area) | 45 (6–75) | 90 (10–100) | 100 (80–100) | <0.001 | 0.232 | 0.641 | <0.001 |
| Sinusoid-like (% of tumor area) | 55 (20–94) | 10 (0–90) | 0 (0–20) | <0.001 | 0.232 | 0.641 | <0.001 |
| Tumor necrotic area (% of tumor area) | 15 (5–38) | 0 (0–30) | 0 (0–1.3) | <0.001 | 0.097 | 0.815 | <0.001 |
| Fibrous stromal area (% of tumor area) | 8.3 (6.8–13.4) | 2.2 (1.1–10.6) | 2.1 (1.3–4.7) | <0.001 | 0.074 | 0.999 | <0.001 |
| Immunohistochemical markers | |||||||
| K19 expression | 6 (27) | 1 (9) | 3 (6) | 0.034 | 0.999 | 0.999 | 0.055 |
| EpCAM expression | 11 (50) | 3 (27) | 10 (20) | 0.031 | 0.835 | 0.999 | 0.026 |
| CAIX expression | 14 (64) | 7 (64) | 4 (8) | <0.001 | 0.999 | 0.001 | <0.001 |
Numerical variables are expressed as median (interquartile range) or mean ± standard deviation, according to the result of the normality test (Shapiro-Wilk test). Categorical variables are expressed as n (%). HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; IRE, irregular rim-like enhancement.
*
Adjusted using Bonferroni correction.