Patient characteristics
| Characteristic | Training cohort (n = 498) | Validation cohort (n = 329) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (yr) | 70 (63–76) | 71 (63–77) | 0.41 |
| Sex, male | 383 (76.9) | 248 (75.4) | 0.62 |
| Previous treatment for HCC |
0.91 | ||
| TACE | 108 (21.7) | 67 (20.4) | |
| RFA | 16 (3.2) | 7 (2.1) | |
| TACE + RFA | 45 (9.0) | 27 (8.2) | |
| Drug therapy | 15 (3.0) | 10 (3.0) | 0.54 |
| HAIC | 14 (93.3) | 8 (80.0) | |
| Targeted therapy | 1 (6.7) | 2 (20.0) | |
| HBs-Ag positive | 75 (15.1) | 73 (22.2) | 0.01 |
| HCV-Ab positive | 282 (56.6) | 165 (50.2) | 0.07 |
| Total bilirubin (mg/dL) | 0.7 (0.5–0.9) | 0.7 (0.6–0.9) | 0.60 |
| Albumin (g/dL) | 4.0 (3.6–4.3) | 3.9 (3.6–4.3) | 0.82 |
| AST (U/L) | 42 (28–63) | 39 (28–59) | 0.34 |
| ALT (U/L) | 35 (23–58) | 33 (21–55) | 0.14 |
| Platelet count (×104/μL) | 15.1 (11.0–19.7) | 14.7 (11.2–21.0) | 0.44 |
| Prothrombin activity (%) | 84 (77–93) | 85 (78–93) | 0.78 |
| ICG-R15 (%) | 15.5 (10.0–22.7) | 14.3 (9.3–23.2) | 0.37 |
| Child-Turcotte-Pugh score | 0.78 | ||
| 5 | 366 (73.5) | 240 (72.9) | |
| 6 | 92 (18.5) | 68 (20.7) | |
| 7 | 33 (6.6) | 18 (5.5) | |
| 8 | 5 (1.0) | 3 (0.9) | |
| 9 | 2 (0.4) | 0 (0) | |
| AFP (ng/mL) | 16 (7–145) | 15 (6–222) | 0.58 |
| DCP (mAU/mL) | 78 (27–673) | 86 (26–1,121) | 0.46 |
| ASAL score | 0.68 | ||
| Low (< 2.7) | 338 (67.9) | 218 (66.3) | |
| High (≥ 2.7) | 160 (32.1) | 111 (33.7) | |
| Largest tumor size (cm) | 3.5 (2.5–5.0) | 3.5 (2.5–5.5) | 0.69 |
| Tumor number | 1 (1–2) | 1 (1–2) | |
| Beyond Milan criterion | 207 (41.6) | 141 (42.9) | |
| Beyond up-to-seven criterion | 132 (26.5) | 102 (31.0) | |
| BCLC stage | > 0.99 | ||
| 0 | 59 (11.8) | 39 (11.9) | |
| A | 255 (51.2) | 170 (51.7) | |
| B | 113 (22.7) | 74 (22.5) | |
| C | 71 (14.3) | 46 (14.0) | |
| TNM stage | 0.66 | ||
| IA | 59 (11.8) | 39 (11.9) | |
| IB | 203 (40.8) | 122 (37.1) | |
| II | 134 (26.9) | 103 (31.3) | |
| IIIA | 31 (6.2) | 25 (7.6) | |
| IIIB | 57 (11.4) | 29 (8.8) | |
| IVA | 8 (1.6) | 6 (1.8) | |
| IVB | 6 (1.2) | 5 (1.5) | |
| Era of surgery | 0.71 | ||
| 2004–2009 | 173 (34.7) | 107 (32.5) | |
| 2010–2016 | 193 (38.8) | 127 (38.6) | |
| 2017–2023 | 132 (26.5) | 95 (28.9) | |
| Major hepatic resection | 87 (17.5) | 59 (17.9) | 0.93 |
| Laparoscopic resection | 138 (27.7) | 92 (28.0) | > 0.99 |
| Concomitant ablation | 96 (19.3) | 78 (23.7) | 0.14 |
| Macroscopic residual disease | 7 (1.4) | 7 (2.1) | 0.43 |
| In-hospital mortality | 6 (1.2) | 3 (0.9) | > 0.99 |
| Median follow-up time (mon) |
93.5 (80.4–104.6) | 85.1 (73.0–98.6) | 0.56 |
Values are presented as number (%) or median (interquartile range).
HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; TACE, transcatheter arterial chemoembolization; RFA, radiofrequency ablation; HAIC, hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy; HBs-Ag, hepatitis B virus antigen S; HCV-Ab, anti-hepatitis C virus antibody; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; ICG-R15, indocyanine green retention rates at 15 minutes; AFP, alpha-fetoprotein; DCP, des-γ-carboxy prothrombin; ASAL, aspartate aminotransferase-albumin; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; TNM, American Joint Committee on Cancer tumor, node, metastasis.
a)Some patients who underwent TACE and/or RFA as previous treatments overlap with those who received drug therapy.
b)95% confidence interval for the values in the parentheses.