Table 2. The relationship between indicators and histology classification of HCC^†.

Indicators grade	Early (n=71)	Advanced (n=92)			P value	Spearman correlation index
		Well (n=24)	Moderate (n=37)	Poorly (n=31)
EOB enhancement ratio (all lesions)	0.767 (0.685, 0.876)	0.781 (0.661, 0.843)	0.762 (0.673, 0.847)	0.753 (0.630, 0.829)	>0.05	−0.252
Post-contrast ratio (all lesions)	0.737±0.115		0.619±0.112	0.587±0.157	<0.001‡	−0.488
		0.688±0.149		√	0.019
		√	√		0.046
Pre-contrast ratio (all lesions)	1.000(0.886,1.000)		0.811(0.723,0.890)	0.777(0.689,0.893)	<0.001‡	−0.422
		0.884(0.784,1.042)		√	0.023
EOB enhancement ratio (hypervascular)||	0.817(0.734,0.905)	0.781(0.642,0.836)	0.744(0.677,0.834)	0.735(0.620,0.797)	>0.05	−0.258
Post-contrast ratio (hypervascular)||	0.767(0.718,0.864)		0.602(0.509,0.724)	0.526(0.468,0.668)	<0.001‡	−0.417
Pre-contrast ratio (hypervascular)||	1.000(0.857,1.000)		0.821(0.733,0.896)		0.001	−0.312
	√			0.777(0.713,0.894)	0.032
		0.914(0.803,1.062)		√	0.030
PP intense of SCEUS (all lesions) (iso/hypo)	65/6		30/7	9/22	<0.001§	−0.472
	√	16/8			0.003
		√		√	0.005
PVP intense of SCEUS (all lesions) (iso/hypo)	61/10	6/18	1/36	0/31	<0.001¶	−0.746
		√		√	0.003
		√	√		0.008

^†, HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; SCEUS, Sonazoid contrast enhanced ultrasound; EOB-MRI, gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid magnetic resonance imaging; AP, arterial phase, PP, portal phase; PVP, post-vascular phase; AUC, area under the curve. ^‡, here, the value means the comparison between early and well diff. HCC, early and poorly diff. HCC have a P value lower than 0.001. ^§, here, the value means the comparison between poorly and eHCC, poorly and moderately diff. HCC have a P value lower than 0.001. ^¶, here, the value means the comparison between early and any other diff. HCC all have a P value lower than 0.001. ^||, for hypervascular lesions, the numbers of early, well, moderately, poorly diff. HCCs were 27, 22, 28 and 23.