Correlation Analysis Of Preoperative Serum Alpha-fetoprotein(AFP) Level And Prognosis Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma(HCC) After Hepatectomy

Objective:To Investigate the prediction value of preoperative serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level for the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC), by comparing pathological characteristics, recurrence rate and survival rate after hepatectomy.Methods:108cases of HCC patients who received liver resection in our hospital from2005to2011were enrolled in this study. According to preoperative serum AFP level, the patients were divided into AFP<20ng/mL group, AFP20-400ng/mL group and AFP>400ng/mL group, and the clinicopathological and cytopathological features were compared. All the patients were followed up for24months, the postoperative recurrence rates and survival rates were compared and analyzed. And the risk factors for HCC postoperative prognosis were screened by univariate and multiple regression analysis.Results:Of the108cases of HCC patients, there were42cases in AFP≤20ng/mL group,28cases in AFP20-400ng/mL group and39cases in AFP>400ng/mL group. We showed that cell differentiation degrees (χ2=20.198,P=0.000) and microscopical invasion rates(x2=20.358,P=0.000) were significant different among the three groups. The AFP≤20ng/mL group showed higher cell differentiation degrees and significant lower microscopical invasion rates comparing to the other groups(P<0.05). The follow-up data showed that postoperative2-year recurrence rate(x2=6.164,P=0.046),18-mo survival rate (x2=7.647,P=0.022) and24-mo survival rate(x2=6.725,P=0.035) of the three groups were significant different. And we found that the AFP≤20ng/mL group had lower postoperative2-year recurrence rate, higher18-mo survival rate and24-mo survival rate than the other two groups(P<0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that tumor diameter(≥5cm) and preoperative serum AFP level(>400ng/mL) were closely correlated with HCC postoperative prognosis (P<0.05).Concusions:It is shown that preoperative serum AFP level has considerable predictive value for the malignant feature and prognosis of HCC, and it is recommended that HCC patients with operation conditions and serum AFP≤20ng/mL should be treated surgically affirmatively.