Research Article
Blood Transfusions and Tumor Biopsy May Increase HCC Recurrence Rates after Liver Transplantation
Table 1
Comparison of patient and tumor characteristics in the subgroups with and without microvascular invasion.
| | No vascular invasion | Vascular invasion | |
| Male | 174 (78%) | 100 (88%) | 0.037 |
| Mean age at LT [years] | | | 0.840 |
| Era of transplantation | | | 0.011 | (i) Before 1997 | 47 (21%) | 29 (25%) | | (ii) 1997–2003 | 58 (26%) | 44 (39%) | (iii) 2004 to 2008 | 117 (53%) | 41 (36%) |
| Underlying liver disease | | | 0.777 | (i) Alcohol | 57 (26%) | 34 (30%) | | (ii) HCV | 81 (37%) | 39 (34%) | (iii) HBV | 36 (16%) | 19 (17%) | (iv) Cryptogenic | 35 (16%) | 14 (12%) | (v) Others | 13 (6%) | 8 (7%) |
| Recipient blood group | | | 0.958 | (i) 0 | 58 (29%) | 33 (30%) | | (ii) A | 110 (55%) | 58 (52%) | (iii) B | 22 (11%) | 14 (13%) |
| Mean waiting time | | | 0.120 |
| Child Pugh stadium | | | 0.809 | (i) A | 95 (43%) | 44 (39%) | | (ii) B | 97 (44%) | 51 (45%) | (iii) C | 30 (14%) | 19 (17%) |
| TACE before LT | 60 (27%) | 29 (25%) | 0.888 |
| Previous liver resection | 23 (10%) | 6 (5%) | 0.163 |
| Piggy back | 71 (32%) | 27 (24%) | 0.263 |
| Tumor biopsy | | | 0.553 | (i) Yes | 46 (21%) | 29 (25%) | | (ii) No | 147 (66%) | 69 (61%) | (iii) Unknown | 29 (13%) | 16 (14%) |
| No blood transfusions (24 h) | 28 (15%) | 15 (15%) | 0.561 |
| Mechanical ventilation >24 h | 11 (6%) | 9 (9%) | 0.255 |
| Haemodialysis after LT | 27 (12%) | 16 (14%) | 0.496 |
| Number of tumor nodules | | | 0.055 | (i) ≤3 | 195 (88%) | 91 (80%) | | (ii) >3 | 27 (12%) | 23 (20%) |
| Maximum tumor diameter | | | <0.001 | (i) ≤5 cm | 194 (87%) | 79 (69%) | | (ii) >5 cm | 28 (13%) | 35 (31%) |
| Mean max. diameter [cm] | | | 0.005 |
| Mean AFP [μg/l] | | | 0.005 |
| AFP category | | | 0.023 | (i) <20 | 115 (52%) | 46 (40%) | | (ii) 21–100 | 45 (20%) | 15 (13%) | (iii) 101–1000 | 33 (15%) | 25 (22%) | (iv) >1000 | 12 (5%) | 14 (12%) | (v) Not determined | 17 (8%) | 14 (12%) |
| Tumor grading | | | <0.001 | (i) G1 | 54 (24%) | 7 (6%) | | (ii) G2 | 121 (55%) | 60 (53%) | (iii) G3 | 27 (12%) | 13 (40%) | (iv) Gx | 20 (9%) | 1 (1%) |
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