Table 2.
Demographic, clinical, pathological, and histopathological features of training (Liver Transplant Centre of Modena) (n = 140) and validation (Liver Transplant Centre of Bologna) (n = 60) cohorts at the time of liver transplant for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
| Characteristics | Modena’s training cohort (n = 140) | Bologna’s validation cohort (n = 60) | Intergroup p-value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recurrent group (n = 70) | Non recurrent group (n = 70) | Intragroup p-value | Recurrent group (n = 30) | Non recurrent group (n = 30) | Intragroup p-value | ||
| Male gender (n, %) | 64 (91.4) | 60 (85.7) | 0.288 | 25 (86.2) | 26 (86.7) | 0.003 | 0.484 |
| Age at LT (mean ± SD) | 57.2 ± 7.9 | 57.6 ± 7.4 | 0.751 | 59.2 ± 5.4 | 58.6 ± 5.3 | 0.868 | 0.692 |
| Deaths | 54 (89.4) | 8 (11.4) | <0.0001 | ||||
| BMI (kg/m2) (mean ± SD) | 24.6 ± 2.8 | 26.3 ± 3 | 0.003 | 24.9 ± 3.0 | 26.6 ± 3.3 | <0.001 | 0.148 |
| AFP (ng/ml) (mean ± SD) | 377 ± 2631 | 79.0 ± 94.8 | 0.011 | 68.9 ± 125.5 | 26.7 ± 87.5 | 0.042 | 0.107 |
| Tumor endothelial angiopoietin-2 | 0.43 ± 0.05 | 0.34 ± 0.05 | <0.001 | 0.44 ± 0.01 | 0.40 ± 0.01 | 0.001 | 0.352 |
| Number of HCC lesions at LT (n, %) | 1.000 | 0.217 | 0.407 | ||||
| ≤2 | 57 (81.4) | 57 (81.4) | 22 (78.6) | 22 (73.3) | |||
| >2 | 13 (18.6) | 13 (18.6) | 6 (21.4) | 8 (26.7) | |||
| Size of largest lesion at LT (mm) (mean ± SD) | 28 ± 16 | 20 ± 13 | <0.001 | 32.0 ± 23.3 | 20.2 ± 17.9 | 0.045 | 0.088 |
| Microvascular invasion at LT (n, %) | 23 (34.8) | 7 (10.0) | <0.001 | 18 (66.7) | 5 (20.8) | 0.004 | <0.001 |
| Edmondson–Steiner grade at LT (n, %) | |||||||
| GX G1–G2 G3–G4 |
9 (12.9) | 20 (28.6) | 0.018 | 2 (6.9) | 6 (19.4) | ||
| 32 (45.7) | 34 (48.6) | 8 (27.6) | 14 (45.2) | 0.031 | 0.017 | ||
| 29 (41.4) | 16 (22.9) | 20 (66.7) | 10 (33.3) | ||||
| Downstaging treatments before LT (N, %) | |||||||
| None | 13 (18.6) | 11(15.7) | 0.882 | 1 (3.3) | 2 (6.6) | 0.673 | <0.001 |
| >2 | 23 (32.9) | 25 (35.7) | 22 (73.3) | 25 (83.3) | |||
| <2 | 34 (47.6) | 34 (48.6) | 7 (23.3) | 3 (10.0) | |||
| Milan criteria In (n, %) | 35 (50.0) | 52 (74.3) | 0.003 | 14 (46.6) | 25 (83.2) | 0.001 | 0.585 |
| Up-To-Seven criteria In (n, %) | 51 (72.9) | 64 (91.4 | 0.18 | 24 (80.0) | 26 (86.6) | 0.147 | |
| Metroticket_AFP * | 83.6 ± 14.9 | 92.3 ± 7.9 | <0.001 | 81.2 ± 15.4 | 92.6 ± 3.9 | 0.003 | 0.568 |
| AFP model < 2** | 61 (87.1) | 65 (92.2) | 0.260 | 21 (68.8) | 23 (79.3) | 0.376 | 0.002 |
Categorical data are expressed as numbers (percentages). Continuous variables are expressed as mean ± standard deviation.
LT, liver transplant. BMI, body mass index. AFP, alfa-fetoprotein. SMD: standardized mean difference.
* For Metroticket_AFP, the mean 5-year survival rate ± standard deviation is reported.
** The cutoff of 2 has been used according to Duvoux et al. (10).