Relationship between microvessel count and post-hepatectomy survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Table 1 Definition and criteria of Child-Pugh classification and liver damage grade

	A	B	C
Child-Pugh classification
Encephalopathy	None	Mild	Coma
Ascites	None	Responsive	Unresponsive
Serum bilirubin (mg/dL)	< 2.0	2.0-3.0	> 3.0
Serum albumin (g/dL)	> 3.5	2.8-3.5	< 2.8
Prothrombin activity (%)	> 70	40-70	< 40
Liver damage grade[18]
Ascites	None	Responsive	Unresponsive
Serum bilirubin (mg/dL)	< 2.0	2.0-3.0	> 3.0
Serum albumin (g/dL)	> 3.5	3.0-3.5	< 3.0
ICG R15 (%)	< 15	15-40	> 40
Prothrombin activity (%)	> 80	50-80	< 50

ICG R15: Indocyanine green retention rate at 15 min.

Table 2 Definition and criteria of TNM stage for HCC according to the Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan[18]

Criteria for TNM categories
(1) Number of tumors: 1
(2) Tumor size: ≤ 2 cm
(3) No vascular or bile duct invasion
T category	T1: Fulfilling all three criteria
	T2: Fulfilling two criteria
	T3: Fulfilling one criterion
	T4: Fulfilling none of the criteria
N category	N0: Absence of lymph node metastasis
	N1: Presence of lymph node metastasis
M category	M0: Absence of distant metastasis
	M1: Presence of distant metastasis
Stage I	T1 N0 M0
Stage II	T2 N0 M0
Stage III	T3 N0 M0
Stage IV-A	T4 N0 M0 or T1-T4, N1M0
Stage IV-B	T1-4, N0 or N1, M1

Table 3 Definition and criteria for JIS and mJIS

	Score
	0	1	2	3
Original JIS score[21]
Japanese TNM stage	I	II	III	IV
Child-Pugh Classification	A	B	C
Modified JIS score[22]
Japanese TNM stage	I	II	III	IV
Liver damage grade	A	B	C

TNM: tumor-node-metastasis.

Table 4 Relationship between microvessel density and clinicopathological factors in HCC

	Microvessel count > 178/mm2/ ≤ 178/mm2	P
Pretreatment
No (n = 98)	53/45	1.0
Yes (n = 30)	16/14
Liver damage
A (n = 102)	54/48	0.969
B (n = 26)	15/11
Background liver
Normal liver (n = 7)	3/4	0.459
Chronic hepatitis (n = 75)	38/37
Cirrhosis (n =46)	28/18
Viral status
Hepatitis virus B (n = 50)	32/18	0.152
Hepatitis virus C (n = 61)	31/30
Both hepatitis virus B and C (n = 4)	2/2
Non-B, non-C (n = 13)	4/9
Number of tumors
Solitary (n = 92)	50/42	1.0
Multiple (n =36)	19/17
Tumor size
< 3 cm (n = 31)	15/16	0.371
3-5 cm (n = 49)	24/25
> 5 cm (n = 48)	30/18
Macroscopic finding1
SN (n = 37)	16/21	0.207
SNEG (n = 39)	25/14
CMN (n = 52)	28/24
Vascular involvement
No (n = 83)	42/41	0.476
Yes (n = 45)	27/18
Histopathological differentiation
Well (n = 19)	12/7	0.437
Moderately (n = 97)	55/42
Poorly (n = 6)	2/4
Japan tumor-node-metastasis stage2
I (n = 14)	5/9	0.542
II (n = 51)	27/25
III (n = 44)	25/19
VI-A (n = 19)	12/7
Recurrence
No (n = 32)	16/16	0.386
Yes (n = 96)	53/43

¹Macroscopic classification by Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan[19];

²The General Rules for the Clinical and Pathological Study of Primary Liver Cancer[18]. SN: Single nodular; SNEG: Single nodular with extranodular growth; CMN: Confluent multinodular group.

Table 5 Multivariate analysis by Cox’s proportional hazard test of prognostic factors influencing disease-free survival and overall survival in HCC after hepatectomy

	Disease-free survival			Overall survival
	Risk ratio	95% CI	P	Risk ratio	95% CI	P
Number ≥ 2 lesions	2.28	1.44-3.60	0.0004	1.87	1.08-3.24	0.025
Vessel involvement positive	2.04	1.28-3.24	0.003	2.07	1.16-3.68	0.014
Macroscopic finding SNEG or CMN	1.43	0.89-2.29	0.135	2.33	1.17-4.66	0.017
Surgical margin positive	1.75	0.93-3.33	0.086	1.59	0.65-3.91	0.310
Blood loss > 1500 mL	1.36	0.81-2.29	0.135	1.50	0.82-2.74	0.189
Liver damage grade B	1.99	1.20-3.31	0.007	1.44	0.77-2.69	0.255
PIVKA-II > 400 mAU/mL	1.30	0.81-2.13	0.274	1.15	0.65-2.04	0.636
Microvessel count ≤ 178/mm2	1.64	1.06-2.50	0.024	1.35	0.71-2.04	0.266

Macroscopic classification by Liver Cancer Study Group of Japan[19]. SN: Single nodular; SNEG: Single nodular with extranodular growth; CMN: Confluent multinodular group; CI: Confidence interval.