Clinical features and outcome of cryptogenic hepatocellular carcinoma compared to those of viral and alcoholic hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 2 Comparison of tumor characteristics and treatment modalities between cryptogenic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and patients with HCC associated with hepatitis B virus infection, hepatitis C virus infection, and alcohol

	Cryptogenic HCC (n = 35)	HBV-HCC	* p	HCV-HCC	**p	ALC-HCC	***p
		(n = 321)		(n = 69)		(n = 55)
AFP (IU/mL)			0.036		0.938		0.116
<20	19 (57.6)	108 (34.4)		33 (53.2)		35 (70.0)
20 ~ 200	4 (12.1)	78 (24.8)		12 (19.4)		8 (16.0)
>200	10 (30.3)	128 (40.8)		17 (27.4)		7 (14.0)
PVT	4 (11.4)	89 (27.7)	0.037	22 (31.9)	0.023	10 (18.2)	0.389
Extrahepatic metastasis	1 (2.9)	19 (5.9)	0.706	5 (7.2)	0.661	3 (5.5)	0.560
TNM stage			0.361		0.889		0.385
I	16 (45.7)	121 (37.7)		34 (49.3)		15 (27.3)
II	5 (14.3)	57 (17.8)		10 (14.5)		20 (36.4)
III	13 (37.1)	122 (38.0)		20 (29.0)		17 (30.9)
IV	1 (2.9)	21 (6.5)		5 (7.2)		3 (5.5)
BCLC stage			0.120		0.380		0.120
A	18 (51.4)	148 (46.1)		38 (55.1)		23 (41.8)
B	11 (31.4)	65 (20.2)		8 (11.6)		15 (27.3)
C	6 (17.1)	94 (29.3)		20 (29.0)		13 (23.6)
D	0 (0)	14 (4.4)		3 (4.3)		4 (7.3)
HCC nodules			0.026		0.020		0.002
1	26 (74.3)	171 (53.3)		34 (49.3)		20 (36.4)
2 ~ 3	4 (11.4)	63 (19.6)		14 (20.3)		17 (30.9)
≥4	5 (14.3)	87 (27.1)		21 (30.4)		18 (32.7)
Largest tumor size			0.536		0.517		0.940
<2cm	10 (28.6)	73 (22.7)		27 (39.1)		15 (27.3)
2 ~ 5cm	12 (34.3)	120 (37.4)		17 (24.6)		21 (38.2)
>5cm	13 (37.1)	128 (39.9)		25 (36.2)		19 (34.5)
Treatment modality
Resection	4 (11.4)	45 (14.0)	0.801	7 (10.1)	0.841	8 (14.5)	0.672
RFA	9 (25.7)	111 (34.6)	0.349	28 (40.6)	0.135	15 (27.3)	0.871
TACE	28 (80.0)	262 (81.6)	0.820	54 (78.3)	0.837	46 (83.6)	0.660
PEI	1 (2.9)	10 (3.1)	1.000	2 (2.9)	1.000	1 (1.8)	1.000
Systemic chemotherapy	2 (5.7)	24 (7.5)	1.000	1 (1.4)	0.261	3 (5.3)	1.000
Sorafenib	3 (8.6)	25 (7.8)	0.747	7 (10.1)	1.000	6 (10.9)	0.719
Liver transplantation	0 (0.0)	6 (1.9%)	1.000	0 (0.0)		1 (1.8%)	1.000
No treatment	2 (5.7)	35 (10.4)	0.558	7 (10.1)	0.714	7 (12.7)	0.473

Data are expressed as the number (%). Values in bold, statistically significant (p < 0.05).
AFP, Alpha-fetoprotein; PVT, Portal vein thrombosis; BCLC, Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer; HCC, Hepatocellular carcinoma; RFA, Radiofrequency ablation; TACE, Transarterial chemoembolization; PEI, Percutaneous ethanol injection; HBV-HCC, Hepatitis B-associated hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV-HCC, Hepatitis C-associated hepatocellular carcinoma; ALC-HCC, Alcohol-associated hepatocellular carcinoma.
*p: Cryptogenic HCC vs. HBV-HCC.
**p: Cryptogenic HCC vs. HCV-HCC.
***p: Cryptogenic HCC vs. ALC-HCC.

ISSN: 1471-2407