Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics for Patients Who Received Radiofrequency Ablation, Surgical Resection, or Transplantation for Early and Very Early Stage Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Unweighted and Weighted Study Populations by Stabilized IPTWs
| Characteristics | Unweighted Study Population | Weighted Study Population | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RFA | SR | LT | P-Value* | RFA | SR | LT | P-Value | |
| No. of patients | 2395 | 2420 | 2849 | – | – | – | – | |
| Age | 64.2 ± 10.2 | 62.9 ± 11.1 | 57.2 ± 8.2 | <0.001 | 59.5 ± 10.0 | 60.8 ± 9.2 | 58.9 ± 7.7 | 0.0014 |
| Sex | <0.001 | 0.7017 | ||||||
| Female | 1775 (74.1%) | 1714 (70.8%) | 2216 (77.8%) | 74.2 | 76 | 75.9 | ||
| Male | 620 (25.9%) | 706 (29.2%) | 633 (22.2%) | 25.8 | 24 | 24.1 | ||
| Tumor grade | <0.001 | 0.024 | ||||||
| Well differentiated | 661 (43.3%) | 555 (26.0%) | 732 (35.8%) | 31.6 | 34.5 | 29.8 | ||
| Moderately differentiated | 715 (46.9%) | 1175 (55.0%) | 1097 (53.6%) | 58.3 | 51.2 | 55.6 | ||
| Poorly differentiated | 150 (9.8%) | 405 (19.0%) | 217 (10.6%) | 10.1 | 14.2 | 14.6 | ||
| AJCC. Tumor Stage | <0.001 | 0.8738 | ||||||
| I | 1537 (69.5%) | 1636 (70.9%) | 1436 (52.0%) | 59.6 | 60.8 | 57.9 | ||
| II | 653 (29.5%) | 659 (28.5%) | 1306 (47.3%) | 40 | 38.7 | 41.8 | ||
| III | 22 (1.0%) | 14 (0.6%) | 18 (0.7%) | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | ||
| Chemotherapy received | <0.001 | 0.038 | ||||||
| No | 1846 (77.1%) | 2167 (89.5%) | 1618 (56.8%) | 75.8 | 74 | 72.3 | ||
| Yes | 549 (22.9%) | 253 (10.5%) | 1231 (43.2%) | 24.2 | 26 | 27.7 | ||
| Tumor size | <0.001 | 0.6256 | ||||||
| <20 mm | 475 (21.6%) | 426 (18.4%) | 1087 (39.1%) | 28.4 | 29 | 25.7 | ||
| 21–30 mm | 875 (39.8%) | 687 (29.7%) | 907 (32.6%) | 36.2 | 32.3 | 36.9 | ||
| 31–50 mm | 547 (24.9%) | 859 (37.2%) | 492 (17.7%) | 23.6 | 26 | 24.9 | ||
| 31–35 mm | 301 (13.7%) | 339 (14.7%) | 293 (10.5%) | 11.8 | 12.6 | 12.5 | ||
| Lymph nodes | 0.286 | 0.9429 | ||||||
| No regional lymph node involvement | 2268 (99.0%) | 2316 (99.4%) | 2776 (99.4%) | 99.6 | 99.6 | 99.7 | ||
| Regional lymph nodes | 22 (1.0%) | 14 (0.6%) | 18 (0.6%) | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | ||
| AFP | 0.002 | 0.1217 | ||||||
| Negative/normal | 634 (33.1%) | 681 (37.9%) | 842 (38.9%) | 38.7 | 39.1 | 33.3 | ||
| Borderline/undetermined | 6 (0.3%) | 6 (0.3%) | 7 (0.3%) | 61.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | ||
| Positive/elevated | 1277 (66.6%) | 1111 (61.8%) | 1316 (60.8%) | 60.6 | 66.5 | |||
| Fibrosis score | <0.001 | 0.2324 | ||||||
| F0 | 150 (19.1%) | 401 (45.5%) | 136 (10.8%) | 22.3 | 26.9 | 20.7 | ||
| F1 | 637 (80.9%) | 480 (54.5%) | 1125 (89.2%) | 77.7 | 73.1 | 79.3 | ||
| Cancer-specific survival status | <0.001 | |||||||
| Alive | 1102 (46.0%) | 1375 (56.8%) | 2301 (80.8%) | |||||
| Cancer-specific death | 818 (34.2%) | 583 (24.1%) | 333 (11.7%) | |||||
| Other-cause death | 475 (19.8%) | 462 (19.1%) | 215 (7.5%) | |||||
| Survival time | 33.3 ± 27.9 | 38.5 ± 32.0 | 57.6 ± 39.7 | <0.001 | ||||
Note: P-value* Calculated before inverse of probability treatment-weighted.
Abbreviations: AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; RFA, radiofrequency ablation; SR, surgical resection; LT, liver transplantation; IPTW, inverse of probability treatment-weighted.