Prognostic value of pretreatment levels of tumor markers for hepatocellular carcinoma on survival after curative treatment of patients with HCC.

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS:

We evaluated the prognostic value of the pretreatment elevation of tumor markers for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients who underwent curative treatment.

METHODS:

We studied 801 patients who had been diagnosed as initial HCC and fulfilled the following criteria: maximum tumor size, < or = 3 cm; number of tumors, < or = 3; remnant liver function, Child-Pugh class A or B; treated by hepatectomy or locoregional thermal ablation (LTA); and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), Lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3), and des-gamma carboxy prothrombin (DCP) were measured at diagnosis. We analyzed the effects of elevated tumor markers on patient survival in these 2 distinct groups with different types of treatment, i.e. hepatectomy and LTA.

RESULTS:

By multivariate analysis in 345 patients who underwent hepatectomy, no tumor marker significantly affected decreased survival rate. In the 456 patients who underwent LTA, the elevation of AFP-L3 (p=0.0171) and DCP (p=0.0004) significantly affected decreased survival rate; DCP elevation had the strongest effect on patient survival.

CONCLUSIONS:

The prognostic value of pretreatment tumor marker elevation was different in patients who underwent the curative treatment according to the type of treatment. Pretreatment elevation of AFP-L3 and DCP had prognostic values only in patients treated with LTA.

• Authors: Hidenori Toyoda, Takashi Kumada, Yuji Kaneoka, Yukio Osaki, Toru Kimura, Akira Arimoto, Hiroko Oka, Osamu Yamazaki, Takao Manabe, Fumihiro Urano, Hobyung Chung, Masatoshi Kudo, Takashi Matsunaga
• Journal: Journal of hepatology (J Hepatol) Vol. 49 Issue 2 Pg. 223-32 (Aug 2008) ISSN: 0168-8278 [Print] Netherlands
• PMID: 18571271 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers
• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Plant Lectins
• Protein Precursors
• alpha-Fetoproteins
• lentil lectin
• acarboxyprothrombin
• Prothrombin

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Biomarkers (blood)
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood)
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (blood, mortality, surgery)
• Catheter Ablation
• Female
• Hepatectomy
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms (blood, mortality, surgery)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
• Plant Lectins
• Prognosis
• Protein Precursors (blood)
• Prothrombin
• Survival Analysis
• alpha-Fetoproteins (metabolism)