Table 1.
Patient and tumor characteristics.
| Variable | Level | Total [%] |
|---|---|---|
| Number | N | 71 |
| Age | Median (range) | 82 (80–96) |
| Sex | Male/Female | 43 (61)/28 (39) |
| Performance status | 0/1/2/3 | 44 (62)/20 (28)/4 (6)/3 (4) |
| Major underlying liver disease | HBV/HCV/Alcoholic/NAFLD | 7 (10)/28 (39)/5 (7)/31 (44) |
| Treatment options | Operable/RFA indicated/TACE indicated | 27 (38)/12 (17)/46 (65) |
| Treatment history | −(primary tumor)/+(recurrence or IM) | 46 (65)/25 (35) |
| Longest tumor diameter (mm) | Median (range) | 32 (8–111) |
| Tumor volume (cc) | Median (range) | 25.6 (1.2–602.5) |
| Child–Pugh classification | A5/A6/B7-9 | 49 (69)/15 (21)/7 (10) |
| TNM (UICC 8th) | T1N0M0/T2N0M0/T3bN0M0 | 58 (82)/11 (15)/2 (3) |
| BCLC staging system | 0/A/B/C/D | 7 (10)/45 (63)/1 (2)/15 (21)/3 (4) |
| Okuda staging system | I/II | 62 (87)/9 (13) |
| Liver damage 1 | A/B/C | 47 (66)/22 (31)/2 (3) |
| 99mTc-GSA hepatic scintigraphy | HH15/LHL15 Median (range) | 0.60 (0.48––0.85)/0.88 (0.69–0.94) |
| ICGR15 (%) | Median (range) | 18.3 (5.0–47.4) |
| K-ICG (%) | Median (range) | 0.12 (0.01–0.20) |
| ALBI grade | 1/2–3 | 35 (49)/36 (51) |
| FIB-4 index | Median (range) | 4.3 (1.6–15.2) |
| Serum hyaluronate level (ng/mL) | Median (range) | 101 (5–1920) |
| Serum type IV collagen (ng/mL) | Median (range) | 5.5 (2.9–495.0) |
| Alpha fetoprotein (ng/mL) | Median (range) | 6.8 (1.6–55149.6) |
| Alpha fetoprotein-L3 (%) | Median (range) | 1.4 (<0.5–96.3) |
| PIVKA-II (mAU/mL) | Median (range) | 57 (8–91900) |
1 Classification based on ascites, serum bilirubin, serum albumin, indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min (ICG-R15) (%), and prothrombin time activity (%) by the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan; HBV = hepatitis B virus; HCV = hepatitis C virus; IM = intrahepatic metastasis; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; 99mTc-GSA = technetium-99m diethylenetriamine-penta-acetic acid-galactosyl human serum albumin; HH15 = clearance index, which is the ratio of radioactivity of the liver at 15 min over that at 3 min after injection; LHL15 = the receptor index, which is the ratio of radioactivity of the liver over that of the liver plus heart at 15 min; K-ICG = plasma clearance rate of indocyanine green; UICC = Union for International Cancer Control; ALBI = albumin-bilirubin; FIB-4 = fibrosis-4; PIVKA-II = protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II.