Postoperative peak serum C-reactive protein is a predictor of outcome following liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Context: C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of inflammation, may correlate with prognosis in several malignancies.

Objective: To investigate the prognostic impact of early postoperative peak serum levels of CRP on tumor-specific outcome in 106 liver transplant patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Methods and results: In multivariate Cox regression analysis, a posttransplant elevated peak CRP level (>versus ≤ 3.5 mg/dl) was identified as an independent predictor of poor recurrence-free survival (p = 0.01; HR = 4.04; CI = 1.399–11.640).

Conclusion: Early postoperative serum CRP may serve as a useful inflammation-based biomarker of outcome in liver transplant patients with HCC.

• Inflammation
• ischemia-reperfusion injury
• liver transplantation
• Milan criteria
• tumor recurrence

Declaration of interest

The authors have no financial support to declare. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.