Distinctions Between Clinicopathological Factors and Prognosis of Alpha-fetoprotein Negative and Positive Hepatocelluar Carcinoma Patients

• Published in: Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP Vol. 13; no. 2; pp. 559 - 562
• Main Authors: Xu, Jia, Liu, Chang, Zhou, Lei, Tian, Feng, Tai, Ming-Hui, Wei, Ji-Chao, Qu, Kai, Meng, Fan-Di, Zhang, Ling-Qiang, Wang, Zhi-Xin, Zhang, Jing-Yao, Chang, Hu-Lin, Liu, Si-Nan, Xu, Xin-Shen, Song, Yan-Zhou, Liu, Jun, Zhang, Peng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: alpha-fetoprotein status; Clinicopathological factors; prognosis; hepatocellular carcinoma
• ISSN: 1513-7368; 2476-762X

Serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a significant marker for clinical diagnosis and prognosis evaluation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. However, some proportion of liver cancer patients are AFP-negative (AFP ${\leq}$20ng/ml). In order to study the differences between clinicopathological factors and prognosis of alpha-fetoprotein negative and positive patients, a total of 114 cases (41 AFP-negative and 73 AFP-positive) were selected for our research. By systematically statistical analysis, the results demonstrated that compared with AFP-negative patients, AFP-positive examples were more likely to feature cirrhosis nodules, non-complete neoplasm capsules, and a poor Edmondson-steiner grade. Furthermore, AFP-negative patients demonstrated a favorable long-term prognosis. By univariate analysis and multivariate analysis with Cox's proportional hazards model, multiple tumors were found to be independent risk factors for worse survival of AFP negative patients; however, less tumor-free margins, multiple tumors and Edmondson-steiner grades III/IV, proved to be independent risk factors leading to a poor prognosis of AFP positive cases. Finally, we can infer that high levels of AFP signify a highly malignant tumor and unfavorable prognosis.