Table 1.
Clinical details of patients with HCC
| Year | P value | |||
| Prepandemic (March 2019–February 2020) | Pandemic (March 2020–February 2021) | |||
| Cases diagnosed | 190 | 120 | ||
| Mode of presentation | Surveillance | 64 (34%) | 32 (27%) | p=0.013* |
| Incidental | 80 (42%) | 40 (33%) | ||
| Symptomatic | 46 (24%) | 48 (40%) | ||
| Underlying liver disease | Cirrhosis | 134 (71%) | 80 (67%) | p=0.474 |
| No cirrhosis | 56 (29%) | 40 (33%) | ||
| Aetiology | ARLD | 62 (32%) | 33 (27%) | p=0.059 |
| NAFLD | 69 (36%) | 51 (42%) | ||
| HCV | 20 (10%) | 4 (3%) | ||
| HBV | 3 (2%) | 2 (2%) | ||
| HH | 6 (5%) | 9 (8%) | ||
| PBC/AIH | 8 (4%) | 3 (3%) | ||
| Other | 0 (0%) | 2 (2%) | ||
| No established CLD | 22 (11%) | 16 (13%) | ||
| Age in years (median) | 70.95±0.73 (72) | 70.59±0.98 (71.5) | p=0.921 | |
| Gender | Male | 146 (77%) | 101 (84%) | p=0.119 |
| Female | 44 (23%) | 19 (16%) | ||
| Performance status | 0 | 56 (30%) | 38 (32%) | p=0.530 |
| 1 | 68 (36%) | 32 (27%) | ||
| 2 | 37 (20%) | 30 (25%) | ||
| 3 | 26 (13%) | 17 (14%) | ||
| 4 | 2 (1%) | 2 (2%) | ||
| Tumour diameter in mm (median) | 48±2.6 (37) | 60±4.6 (44) | p=0.017* | |
| Tumour number | 1.87±0.10 | 2.18±0.15 | p=0.070 | |
| Portal vein thrombosis | 44 (24%) | 34 (29%) | p=0.371 | |
| Extrahepatic disease | 26 (14%) | 17 (14%) | p=0.940 | |
| Albumin (g/L) mean | 38.0±0.49 | 38.2±0.60 | p=0.801 | |
| Bilirubin (µmol/L) | 22.6±1.96 | 25.5±3.59 | p=0.427 | |
| Prothrombin time (s) | 14.5±0.31 | 14.3±0.33 | p=0.565 | |
| ALBI score | −2.35±0.05 | −2.46±0.07 | p=0.863 | |
| Child-Pugh stage | A | 108 (65%) | 70 (61%) | p=0.732 |
| B | 41 (25%) | 32 (28%) | ||
| C | 16 (10%) | 13 (11%) | ||
| BCLC stage | 0+A | 44 (23%) | 23 (19%) | p=0.756 |
| B | 16 (8%) | 9 (7%) | ||
| C | 89 (47%) | 62 (52%) | ||
| D | 41 (22%) | 26 (22%) | ||
| TNM stage | I | 83 (44%) | 43 (36%) | p=0.192 |
| II | 31 (16%) | 27 (22%) | ||
| IIIA+IIIB | 51 (27%) | 35 (29%) | ||
| IV | 25 (13%) | 15 (13%) | ||
| Spontaneous tumour haemorrhage | 1 (1%) | 5 (4%) | p=0.023* | |
| First-line treatment received | OLTx | 5 (3%) | 1 (1%) | p=0.708 |
| Resection | 3 (2%) | 3 (2%) | ||
| Ablation | 21 (11%) | 18 (15%) | ||
| TACE | 41 (21%) | 19 (16%) | ||
| SIRT | 11 (6%) | 8 (7%) | ||
| Medical | 10 (5%) | 7 (6%) | ||
| Supportive care | 99 (52%) | 64 (53%) | ||
| In surveillance programme | 75 (39%) | 45 (38%) | p=0.727 | |
| Surveillance adherence over previous year | Consistent | 56 (78%) | 21 (48%) | p=0.004** |
| Inconsistent | 8 (11%) | 13 (29%) | ||
| Missed | 8 (11%) | 10 (23%) | ||
| Mode of incident surveillance test | US | 48 (75%) | 22 (69%) | p=0.218 |
| AFP alone | 15 (23%) | 8 (25%) | ||
| CT/MRI | 1 (2%) | 2 (6%) | ||
| Type of incidental finding | Primary care—routine | 19 (24%) | 11 (27%) | p=0.826 |
| Secondary care—routine | 13 (16%) | 9 (22%) | ||
| Primary care—acute | 4 (5%) | 1 (3%) | ||
| Secondary care—acute | 44 (55%) | 19 (48%) | ||
Continuous data are shown as mean±SE of mean, with median in parentheses. Categorical datasets have been analysed by Pearson’s χ2 tests, with p values for continuous data determined by t-test or Mann-Whitney U tests.
*p<0.05; **p<0.005.
AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; AIH, autoimmune hepatitis; ALBI, albumin-bilirubin; ARLD, alcohol-related liver disease; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; CLD, chronic liver disease; HBV, hepatitis B virus; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV, hepatitis C virus; HH, hereditary haemochromatosis; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; OLTx, orthotopic liver transplantation; PBC, primary biliary cholangitis; SIRT, selective internal radiation therapy; TACE, transarterial chemoembolisation; TNM, tumour-node-metastases; US, ultrasound.