Table 2.
Baseline Clinical Characteristics of the Study Population
| Laboratory indicators | <2 cm | P | 2–5 cm | P | >5 cm | P | |||
| CR (n = 21) a | NCR (n = 6) a | CR (n = 48) a | NCR (n = 31) a | CR (n = 37) a | NCR (n = 45) a | ||||
| Mean age (y) b | 50.5 ± 10.4 | 50.0 ± 17.2 | 0.951 | 52.8 ± 11.8 | 50.6 ± 11.5 | 0.420 | 52.1 ± 10.2 | 52.8 ± 10.4 | 0.752 |
| M/F ratio | 18/3 | 6/0 | 1.000 | 40/8 | 26/5 | 0.950 | 32/5 | 39/6 | 1.000 |
| HBV ( ± ratio) | 19/2 | 6/0 | 1.000 | 46/2 | 31/0 | 0.517 | 34/3 | 42/3 | 1.000 |
| AFP | 0.101 | 0.401 | 0.020 | ||||||
| ≤13.2 µg l−1 | 3 (14.3) | 3 (50.0) | 15 (31.3) | 7 (22.6) | 13 (35.1) | 6 (13.3) | |||
| >13.2 µg l−1 | 18 (85.7) | 3 (50.0) | 33 (68.7) | 24 (77.4) | 24 (64.9) | 39 (86.7) | |||
| ALT b | 68.0 (29.5,128.0) | 43.0 (39.5,450.3) | 0.620 | 42.0 (25.0,95.5) | 51.0 (33.5,104.0) | 0.322 | 51.0 (34.0,133.0) | 58.0 (35.0,111.0) | 0.908 |
| AST b | 44.0 (34.5,105.5) | 70.5 (31.0,203.8) | 0.484 | 39.0 (28.3,85.8) | 42.0 (30.0,75.5) | 0.718 | 55.0 (33.0,99.0) | 51.0 (37.0,94.0) | 0.843 |
| γ-GT b | 73.0 (40.5,172.5) | 63.0 (43.8,117.5) | 0.641 | 53.5 (32.0,102.5) | 69.0 (42.5,124.5) | 0.507 | 138.0 (62.5,194.0) | 141.0 (102.0,257.0) | 0.141 |
| ALP b | 102.0 (75.5,121.5) | 129.0 (103.0,231.8) | 0.129 | 109.1 ± 55.1 | 109.5 ± 48.9 | 0.978 | 132.0 (99.5,174.0) | 135.0 (103.0,187.0) | 0.463 |
| PT b | 14.7 ± 1.9 | 15.8 ± 2.6 | 0.268 | 14.0 (13.4,14.9) | 13.8 (13.1,14.6) | 0.320 | 13.9 (13.2,14.5) | 13.8 (13.0,14.7) | 0.839 |
| Alb b | 39.2 ± 4.5 | 38.8 ± 6.9 | 0.886 | 40.2 (36.6,42.9) | 39.1 (37.1,43.7) | 0.840 | 38.0 (32.9,42.0) | 37.7 (34.2,41.5) | 0.931 |
| SCr b | 72.7 ± 17.3 | 75.8 ± 15.0 | 0.697 | 75.9 (66.8,81.8) | 72.8 (66.1,86.5) | 0.851 | 69.5 ± 17.4 | 71.2 ± 17.0 | 0.660 |
| RBC b | 4.2 ± 0.5 | 4.0 ± 0.6 | 0.423 | 4.6 (4.0,4.6) | 4.5 (3.9,4.8) | 0.744 | 4.5 ± 0.6 | 4.4 ± 0.7 | 0.537 |
| WBC b | 4.5 ± 1.8 | 4.1 ± 2.2 | 0.629 | 5.4 (3.6,6.3) | 5.0 (4.2,5.7) | 0.411 | 6.5 ± 2.8 | 6.2 ± 2.6 | 0.653 |
| PLT b | 80.0 (58.0,101.0) | 86.5 (32.5,115.3) | 0.930 | 93.5 (61.3,133.0) | 116.0 (78.5,154.0) | 0.120 | 140.0 (114.5,192.0) | 121.0 (96.0,182.0) | 0.313 |
| T-Bil b | 13.8 (10.0,20.9) | 23.9 (12.7,125.9) | 0.221 | 15.4 (11.9,22.3) | 15.3 (11.9,23.6) | 0.904 | 13.7 (11.2,20.8) | 15.2 (11.4,17.7) | 0.746 |
| Hepatic fibrosis | |||||||||
| PC III b | 11.1 ± 5.5 | 18.8 ± 10.0 | 0.019 | 10.4 (7.4,13.3) | 9.4 (6.7,13.7) | 0.865 | 11.1 (8.0,16.9) | 11.7 (9.4,15.4) | 0.714 |
| IV-C b | 69.9 (44.4,130.4) | 207.2 (38.4,664.8) | 0.382 | 79.5 (51.9,140.9) | 61.9 (41.4,122.3) | 0.306 | 92.5 (62.3,139.6) | 106.6 (68.4,140.7) | 0.588 |
| LN b | 119.3 ± 60.1 | 144.2 ± 89.2 | 0.164 | 80.6 (48.3,149.5) | 83.8 (59.2,115.1) | 0.996 | 127.7 ± 62.8 | 130.5 ± 65.3 | 0.857 |
| HA b | 89.9 (54.8,222.0) | 417.4 (99.9,913,8) | 0.080 | 107.6 (52.5,212.4) | 111.7 (59.5,168.9) | 0.971 | 117.9 (74.4,189.4) | 89.4 (54.3,150.6) | 0.330 |
| Child-Pugh | 0.588 | 0.438 | 1.000 | ||||||
| A | 17 (81.0) | 4 (66.7) | 43 (89.6) | 26 (84.8) | 33 (89.2) | 40 (88.9) | |||
| B | 4 (19.0) | 2 (33.3) | 4 (8.3) | 2 (6.1) | 4 (10.8) | 5 (11.1) | |||
| C | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (2.1) | 3 (9.1) | 0 | 0 | |||
CR, complete response; NCR, non-complete response; M/F, Male/Female; HBV, hepatitis B virus; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; γ-GT=γ-glutamyl transferase; ALP, alkaline phosphatase; PT, prothrombin time; Alb, albumin; SCr, serum creatinine; RBC, red blood cell count; WBC, white blood cell count; PLT, platelet count; PC III, procollagen III; IV-C, collagen IV; LN, laminin; HA, hyaluronic acid.
Notes Unless otherwise indicated, data are the number of patients with the percentage in parentheses.
Non-assessable (NA) values were excluded; 9 tumors of CR and 5 tumors of NCR in group A, 13 tumors of CR and 7 tumors of NCR in group B, and 1 tumors of CR in group C were marked as NA.
Continuous variables: normally distributed data are reported as the means ± standard deviations, and non-normally distributed data are reported as medians with interquartile ranges in parentheses (25th, 75th percentiles).