Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the enrolled patients.
| Patients without extrahepatic recurrence (n = 304) | Patients with extrahepatic recurrence (n = 94) | p-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 59.11 ± 10.02 | 56.01 ± 10.45 | 0.010 | |
| Male (n, %) | 259 (85.2) | 85 (90.4) | 0.196 | |
| Etiology of liver cirrhosis, n (%) | 0.897 | |||
|
HBV*/HCV Alcohol/combined NASH/unknown |
176 (63.1)/21 (7.5) 24 (8.6)/17 (6.1) 1 (0.4)/40(14.4) |
56 (65.9)/6 (7.1) 10 (11.8)/4 (4.7) 0 (0.0)/9 (10.6) |
||
| ALP (U/L) | 86.88 ± 28.21 | 99.25 ± 49.72 | 0.023 | |
| Albumin (mg/dL) | 4.35 ± 0.48 | 4.13 ± 0.45 | < 0.001 | |
| ALBI grade ≥ 2, n (%) | 47 (15.5) | 23 (24.7) | 0.041 | |
| ICG R15 | 10.33 ± 7.62 | 10.99 ± 8.08 | 0.496 | |
| Preoperative serum AFP (IU/mL) | 0.363 | |||
|
≤ 400 > 400 |
235 (80.5%) 57 (19.5%) |
70 (76.1%) 22 (23.9%) |
||
| Tumor size | 4.18 ± 2.41 | 5.16 ± 3.69 | < 0.001 | |
| Tumor numbers | 1.26 ± 0.83 | 1.32 ± 0.79 | 0.525 | |
| BCLC stage, n (%) | 0.045 | |||
| 0/A / ≥ B | 34 (11.2)/234 (77.2)/35 (11.6) | 6 (6.4)/68 (72.3)/20 (21.3) | ||
| Pathological mUICC stage, n (%) | 0.012 | |||
| I/II / ≥ III | 43 (14.5)/183 (61.6)/71 (23.9) | 7 (8.0)/49 (56.3)/31 (35.6) | ||
| Radiological mUICC stage, n (%) | 0.001 | |||
| I/II / ≥ III | 48 (15.8)/205 (67.7)/50 (16.5) | 10 (10.6)/59 (62.8)/212 (26.6) | ||
| Beyond Milan criteria, n (%) | 75 (24.8) | 45 (47.9) | < 0.001 | |
| Metastatic lymph nodes, n (%) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (2.1) | 0.011 | |
| Macrovascular invasion, n (%) | 6 (2.0) | 8 (8.5) | 0.003 | |
| mUICC T stage at 1st recurrence, n (%) | < 0.001 | |||
|
0/1 2 /3 4 |
0 (0.0)/81 (45.8) 67 (37.9)/25 (14.1) 4 (2.3) |
6 (6.5)/19 (20.7) 32 (34.8)/22 (23.9) 13 (14.1) |
||
| Serum AFP at 1st recurrence | 209.12 ± 1 098.83 | 1,225.05 ± 5 775.70 | 0.045 | |
| Hospital stay, days (median, range) | 13 (5–69) | 13 (4–60) | 0.015 | |
| Time to first recurrence, months (median, range) | 42.54 (0.16–157.91) | 10.14 (0.23–100.34) | < 0.001 | |
| Follow-up duration, months (median, range) | 75.21 (2–177) | 38.93 (3–150) | 0.857 | |
Values are presented as mean ± SD.
SD standard deviation, HBV hepatitis B virus, HCV hepatitis C virus, AST aspartate transaminase, ALT alanine transaminase, ALP alkaline phosphatase, AFP alpha-fetoprotein, BCLC Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, mUICC modified Union for International Cancer Control.
*Patients with suppressed HBV DNA (HBV DNA < 200 IU/mL)42 at pre-operative state had lower rates of EHR (11.1% vs. 28.8%, p = 0.047).