Table 1.
General information and clinical characteristics of the participants.
| Liver cirrhosis | AFP-negative HCC | |
|---|---|---|
| n = 80* | n = 80* | |
| Age | 48 (20–67) | 48 (20–79) |
| Gender (M:F) | 63:17 | 72:8 |
| AFP (ng/ml) | 4.1 (0.8–19.9) | 6.3 (0.4–19.0) |
| ALT (U/L) a | 28.8 (6–86) | 86.3 (13–601) |
| AST (U/L) a | 37.1 (18–105) | 90.0 (19–884) |
| HBsAg+ (%) | 87.5 | 91.3 |
The serum AFP <20 ng/ml was considered to be AFP negative.
*Eighty patients in each group are composed of a discovery set (n = 20), samples for ELISA (n = 28) and a validation set (n = 32).
a
ALT and AST levels were determined by ARCHITECT c16000 (Abbott, Sligo, Ireland).