The guiding value of microvascular invasion for treating early recurrent small hepatocellular carcinoma

Figures & data

Figure 1. The flowchart of patient enrollment.

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of recurrent HCC patients receiving different treatments.

Characteristics	Hepatectomy	RFA	TACE-RFA	p Value
Sample size	95	233	51
Sex				0.169
Male	82 (86.3%)	216 (92.7%)	45 (88.2%)
Female	13 (13.7%)	17 (7.3%)	6 (11.8%)
Age, years				0.033
≤60	64 (86.3%)	127 (54.5%)	24 (47%)
>60	31 (13.7%)	106 (45.5%)	27 (53%)
HBV infection				0.359
Yes	86 (90.5%)	197 (85.5%)	44 (86.2%)
No	9 (9.5%)	36 (15.5%)	7 (13.8%)
ALBI grade				<0.001*
I	94 (98.9%)	204 (87.5%)	42 (82.3%)
II	1 (1.1%)	29 (12.5%)	9 (17.7%)
AFP >25 ng/ml				0.705
Yes	33 (34.8%)	70 (30%)	16 (31.3%)
No	62 (65.2%)	163 (70%)	35 (68.7%)
MVI				0.081
No	68 (71.5%)	149 (63.9%)	27 (53%)
Yes	27 (28.5%)	84 (36.1%)	24 (47%)
Tumor number				<0.001
1	83 (87.3%)	216 (92.7%)	36 (70.5%)
>1	12 (12.7%)	17 (7.3%)	15 (29.5%)
Tumor size, cm				0.638
≤2	57 (60%)	186 (79.8%)	40 (78.5%)
2-3	38 (40%)	47 (20.2%)	11 (21.5%)
BCLC stage of primary HCC				0.018
0-A	86 (90.5%)	195 (83.7%)	37 (72.5%)
B	9 (9.5%)	38 (16.3%)	14 (27.5%)
TTR, year				<0.001
≤2	47 (49.5%)	149 (63.9%)	44 (86.3%)
>2	48 (50.5%)	84 (36.1%)	7 (13.7%)

*Fisher exact test was performed for the comparison.

Figure 2. The survival curves of recurrent HCC patients receiving hepatectomy, RFA or TACE-RFA. No significant difference was found in sRFS (A) or PRS (B) among the different treatment groups.

Figure 3. The survival curves of recurrent HCC patients undergoing hepatectomy, RFA or TACE-RFA in groups classified by MVI statuses. (A) sRFS and (B) PRS for the MVI (−) group. (C) sRFS and (D) PRS for the MVI (+) group.

Figure 4. Subgroup analyses of sRFS and PRS for recurrent HCC patients receiving hepatectomy, RFA or TACE-RFA based on MVI status and TTR.

Table 2. Univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic factors for post-recurrence survival (PRS) and secondary recurrence-free survival (sRFS).

	PRS				sRFS
	Univariate		Multivariate		Univariate		Multivariate
Variables	HR (95%CI)	p	HR (95%CI)	p	HR (95%CI)	p	HR (95%CI)	p
Sex		0.429				0.189
Male	1.0				1.0
Female	1.36 (0.63–2.909)				1.37 (0.86–2.17)
Age, years		0.770				0.596
≤60	1.0				1.0
>60	1.09 (0.63–1.89)				1.08 (0.81–1.43)
HBV infection		0.606				0.487
No	1.0				1.0
Yes	0.81 (0.37–1.80)				1.17 (0.76–1.80)
ALBI grade		0.846				0.745
I	1.0				1.0
II	1.08 (0.44–1.98)				1.07 (0.70–1.65)
AFP >25 ng/ml		0.249				0.225
No	1.0				1.0
Yes	1.39 (0.80–2.42)				1.19 (0.88–1.61)
MVI		0.013		0.024		0.001		0.009
No	1.0		1.0		1.0		1.0
Yes	2.00 (1.16–3.48)		1.89 (1.09–3.28)		1.61 (1.21–2.14)		1.46 (1.10–1.95)
Treatment		0.868				0.326
Hepatectomy	1.0				1.0
RFA	1.04 (0.53–2.05)	0.903			1.17 (0.83–1.66)	0.363
TACE-RFA	1.23 (0.54–2.79)	0.622			1.40 (0.90–2.17)	0.135
Tumor number		0.169				<0.001		<0.001
1	1.0				1.0		1.0
>1	1.63 (0.81–3.25)				2.28 (1.58–3.29)		2.10 (1.45–3.05)
Tumor size, cm		0.359				0.519
≤2	1.0				1.0
2–3	1.32 (0.73–2.39)				1.11 (0.81–1.54)
BCLC stage of primary HCC		0.563				0.001		0.087
0–A	1.0				1.0		1.0
B	1.23 (0.61–2.46)				1.77 (1.27–2.47)		1.35 (0.96–1.90)
TTR, year		0.024		0.037		<0.001		<0.001
≤2	1.0		1.0		1.0		1.0
>2	0.37 (0.16–0.88)		0.40 (0.17–0.95)		0.40 (0.29–0.56)		0.44 (0.31–0.61)